Paul Wallbank at his Cranky Tech blog writes about why he shops less frequently at newsagencies these days – indifferent service and long queues.
Our only point of difference is customer service. No matter how tired or how little we make from a transaction the experience needs to be exceptional. If it’s not, the customer has countless other places they can purchase the newspaper, lottery ticket, greeting card or box of staples. What’s worse is that the poor service in one newsagency drags others down.
Rather than criticise a colleague for poor service or a crappy shop, newsagents want suppliers to treat these bad operators as if they are the best of the best. Many still live in the world of authorisation where you had a territory which you ‘owned’. Good newsagents need to cast poor newsagents adrift and realise that there is no protection for poor service.
Wallbank rightly notes that newsagents need to stand up to those who cut into our margin. I’d add that we also need to stand up to weak newsagents and demand that they earn the right to be called a newsagent.