Laundry, late fees, and a lesson in customer power

When my kids lived at home and were old enough, Sunday night used to be laundry night. I'd toss all the clean laundry onto the floor of the lounge and me, hubby and the kids would rifle through the pile, looking for our own items, which we'd then fold and take to our respective rooms for putting away. Or at least that's what I hoped the kids would do!

These days my laundry pile is much smaller — thank goodness — and I can afford to use some of the "fancy" cleaning options. I'm quite partial to Persil's Expert Wonder Wash for quick cycles, and one of the reasons I like it is because I think it's smart marketing.

Here's why: they recognised that customers are looking for ways to cut the cost of living. Washing machines use power, and power costs money. So a quick-cycle wash gets designed and marketed accordingly. For all I know, it's probably just different packaging around the same formulation — but as a customer, I feel like I'm doing something sensible for my power bill. And that feeling is exactly the product.

Whatever your business offers — whether that's manufacturing laundry products or running a daycare — you need to build your products and services around your customers' evolving desires and motivations. Because when it comes to business, customers always hold the power.

Blockbuster Videos used to be my go-to for kids' entertainment — but we'd invariably forget to return a video and end up spending as much on late fees as we did on the rental. Enter Netflix, which Blockbuster actually had the chance to buy back in 2000, and famously passed on.

The Chinese proverb sums it up beautifully: when the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills.

If you haven't checked in with your customers in a while, or don't know where to start, here's my checklist for adapting your products or services to changing customer needs.

If you want a fresh set of eyes over your marketing to make sure you're building a windmill and not a wall — give me a call, 021 615525.