It isn’t all about the products/service, price or location, sometimes it comes down to what your customer experiences when they visit your store. I was talking to a potential client a few weeks ago. She owns a small pastry shop. In her shop she has an area where you can sit down and enjoy some of her baked treats with coffee or tea. It is a great thought but that part of the business struggled for a long time. She didn’t do anything special. It was just a place for you to sit and eat. There wasn’t an experience there. The area was clean and well kept with nice furniture but that was about it.
It wasn’t until she started offering Tea Parties for children that that part of her business started to take off. For about $7 per child an experience is given. The owner makes up a little Alice In Wonderland type tea party with fun music. Each guest receives 3 cookies, tea/coffee, and can take home a piece of fake plastic jewelry. Pictures are encouraged. Each party lasts about 1 hour and can have up to 15 kids.
This is easily something that can be done at home but it is about the experience. The children get to go to a tea party! They get to dress up, be silly, and have fun. The experience is created with minimal effort on the owner’s part, once tea is served the parents take over and the owner just needs to check in every once in a while. Then once the tea party is over with, the children are encouraged to help clean up. It is all part of the experience. The best part is that the tea parties have been such a hit that the once plain pollyanna pastry shop has become something unique. As a customer when you go to this pastry shop, it is more like going to an Alice in Wonderland type tea party shop.
That’s the point. This pastry shop isn’t selling anything special. There are a hundreds of other places in the area that sell pastries, tea and coffee. But no other place does tea parties. And no other place has allowed those tea parties to take over their business. It is memorable, unique, and creates a child like experience and that’s one of the reasons why her customers keep coming back.
So this week, take some time to think about how your customers experience your business. Are you doing any thing special or different?
