Positive Power of Principled Profit
Volume 3, Number 5—January, 2006

Positive Power Spotlight: The Body Shop

What sets The Body Shop apart from most other socially conscious companies is that not only do they focus on ethical product sourcing and marketing techniques (rarities in the cosmetics industry)--but from the beginning, all the stores have worked hard to get their customers actually involved in social action, and not just by buying responsibly. The company is always partnering with groups like Amnesty International to generate massive letter writing campaigns and other actions directly from its customers. The company has involved its tens of thousands of customers

I've known about founder Anita Roddick for many years; she keeps a high profile on various human rights campaigns, and she can point very specifically to prisoners of conscience whose lives she saved. Christine Arena's book, Cause for Success--you can read my review at http://www.principledprofits.com/pp2-4.html--notes that she has called for a ban on importing products made with child labor/human rights violations: a single law that could drastically shift the world economy toward fair trade.

The company is successful in part *because* it provides these mechanisms to directly involve its customers in shaping a better world. And channels significant dollars into the causes it supports (well over $12 million since 1990).

Another Recommended Book: Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless: How to Make Customers Love You, Keep Them Coming Back and Tell Everyone They Know, by Jeffrey Gitomer (Austin: Bard Press, 2003)

As soon as I picked up this book, I knew it would be different. The extra-long title and subtitle, grab-and-don't-let-go jacket copy and front matter are so obviously written and designed by astute students of direct marketing--even if the book were useless (and it's far from useless), the jacket copy is a great example of the power of strong words and an eye-catching design that breaks a lot of rules. I'd say it's some of the strongest copy I've ever seen on a jacket flap. And then there's four pages of large-type endorsements led off by Harvey Mackay, of Swimming with the Sharks fame. The interior design continues breaking rules, and isn't always attractive--but is effective: an example of understanding the rules before you break them.

As of the November 2003 copy I picked up, the book was in its eleventh hardcover printing, notwithstanding its $30 pricetag.

To Gitomer, loyal customers make referrals. I see it a bit differently: loyalty is a big step up from mere satisfaction, but to make loyalists into ambassadors or evangelists is another large--and crucial--step. But this is only a minor semantic quibble.

Loyal customers, he says, feel "*great* about dealing with you... They are ecstatic with their purchase. They will proactively talk about the experience. Their overall feeling about you is wonderful and their experiences with you have been memorable."

Gitomer points out that "companies spend millions to attract new customers (people they don't know) and spend next to nothing to keep the ones they've got," but that the reverse makes more sense.

How messed up are these priorities? "Big companies spend more mo ney producing and airing *one* sixty-second commercial than they will spend on a customer service program in a year.

Gitomer reminds us that principles are important, while policies usually aren't--and policies are out of touch with the mission of creating fiercely loyal customers. And he lays out 12 of them, plus a bonus #12.5.

As a start, he suggests changing "unfortunately, our company policy" to "in order to be fair to everyone"--what a difference a few words can make! Carrying that attitude out, he suggests posting these three phrases by your phone--and the phones of those who interact with customers:

* The best way to handle that is...
* The fastest way to get that done is...
* The easiest way to get that is...

One of my favorites is Gitomer's "Grandma" test; if you wouldn't say a phrase to your grandmother, you shouldn't utter it to your customer.

Gitomer notes that since 95% of the corporate world doesn't have a clue about really serving the customer, if you provide exemplary service--especially when resolving a problem with a "plus" the customer doesn't expect--you've just gained an advantage over 95% of your competitors. Wow! He also suggests trying to be a customer of your own company and noting the places where the experience was either memorable or sorely lacking. His 15 steps to changing an angry customer into a loyalist (pages 132-133) are alone worth the price of the book.

The thing that struck me in the real-world examples section is how utterly easily businesses could incorporate most of the "Wows." 80 percent of them require zero or trivial expenditures of dollars or time. And yet, so few businesses take the time and trouble. For those that do, the customer is more apt to forgive small errors that would become large indeed if the customer was already resenting the interaction.

As one example: the hotel concierge who calls, a week before the scheduled stay, and asks if the customer will need anything special. It's simple, it's cheap, it creates an immediate and powerful Wow Factor, and it frees up the concierge from a lot of last-minute requests that are harder to fill. Plus, of course, it's a real morale-booster for both the customer and the concierge.

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