Don’t wait for your customers to come to you. Go to where they are.
As you may or may not know, I maintain two offices, one in Florida and another in Colorado. And there are times I drive from office to another rather than fly … because quite honestly … I enjoy an occasional road trip and need some quiet time.
On one of those treks recently, I stopped at a huge truck stop to fill my car with gas. And I was surprised to see a little mobile home parked next to the convenience store that said “Trucker’s Chapel.” It was apparently staffed around the clock to offer spiritual solace to anyone who stopped in … particularly truckers who are away from their homes, families, and places of worship. I know a trucker’s life can be a tough life and a lonely life because my father was a truck driver and I saw the toll it took on him.
So when I saw the “Trucker’s Chapel,” I thought “how brilliant.” In the past … and in many people’s businesses still today … they put up a building, an ad, or a web page and wait for customers to come to them. That’s okay. And that is a part of customer service, but only a part. Your new prospective customers may not ever drive by your store, or see your ad, or find your web site. And your old customers may be too busy to come to you to make their next purchase.
That being the case, take a lesson from the “Trucker’s Chapel.” Go to where your customers are. See where they hang out and figure out a way you can go to them. If you do, you’ll be ahead of 95% of your competitors.