This Is Not A Cheesecake
This Is Not A Cheesecake
Howdy.
To the inexperienced eye the photograph below may look like a cheesecake with a slice taken out, the empty bowl of one B. Sinclair after eating that slice and a box with a Xerox Phaser 3110 cartridge inside.
You'd be wrong. Completely and utterly wrong.
This Is Not A Cheesecake
Your eyes are playing tricks on you.
What this is a photograph of is this: brilliant marketing.
Absolutely Brilliant Marketing
I buy the Xerox cartridges from Xerox themselves in a local suburb called Bundall.
When Mel or Jo have been the ones doing the buying, they buy from Discosource - a supplier who sells them the cartridge AND throws in a free cake of their choice.
I think the guys at Discosource are a little cheaper than when I buy direct from Xerox, but that has never worried me.
And the reason it has never worried me is because Discosource's service has been crap, appalling and pathetic.
We've ordered the cartridges before with the explicit understanding they'd be delivered within 24 hours. The cartridge wasn't. I can't remember how long we waited for the cartridge, but it was way too long.
And the cake Mel and Jo ordered didn't show until the day after that.
All I Want Is The Cartridge For The Printer
All I want is the cartridge. They didn't deliver on their promise so I'll never use them again. If they fail me once, I figure they'll fail me again.
But Here's What Happens
Anyone in the company is empowered to buy anything they please if they need it to help the business. Pretty simple philosophy.
Mel & Jo know I don't like Discosource.
They know I won't buy from them again (Discosource rang up one day asking if we need a new cartridge and I told them No and mentioned I thought their service was crap and I'd never buy from them again).
But here's the thing........
* Discosource ring up every few weeks to see if we need a new cartridge
* Discosource send through a fax order form every month or so promoting their cartridge and cake deal
And here's what happens in the office:
* Mel usually answers the phone
* Discosource have placed themselves top-of-mind for Mel in terms of supplying cartridges
And then there's this bit: Mel loves the offer of the free cake. Every chance she gets she buys the cartridge from Discosource.
She doesn't care they I don't want to deal with Discosource.
They've addressed her needs so she buys. This is what they've done:
1. Kept in touch
2. Developed the relationship
3. Provide relevant value adding to their target
4. Gotten the target to buy
That's brilliant marketing. Which shows, I guess, that brilliant marketing can cover for having bad service.
But it would be better if the brilliant marketing was backed up with brilliant service.
Cheers
Brendon
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