They Call Me, Mister Potatohead
May 29, 2006
Restless and bored.
Standing in line.
Waiting for parts.
Electricians, maintenance workers, and DIY’ers were at the sales counter expecting to quickly get their material and get back to their job-sites. We had only one full-time counter person. The rest of us filled in where we could, but it wasn’t enough. Customers vocally expressed their anger at how long they’d had to wait for us to fill their orders. That was my first day as the branch manager of an electrical supply house in central Texas. I promised the second day would be better.
The next day I brought to work...
...a Mr. Potatohead and placed it on the counter with the interchangeable feet, arms, mustaches, and assorted body parts in a nearby bowl.
“What’s that for?” asked a colleague.
“For the electricians,” I replied.
“You’re joking. You mean for them to play with?”
I nodded. “It will give them something to do while they wait.”
“Oh yeah. I can just see Bubba playing with Mr. Potatohead.”
He
had a point. Bubba was a tough guy – a macho man – an intimidating
redneck. In fact, he looked like the southern comedian, Larry the Cable
Guy. Except Bubba wasn’t funny. He might've been funny, but he was so
mad most of the time he was in our store we’d have been the last to know about it. You've probably seen him. He's one of those people who always seem to have a lousy
day. And he complained about everything– the wait, the prices, the back-orders, the free coffee. No matter what we did, Bubba could find a way to
complain about it.
As if on cue, Bubba came in through the front door, just then. Speaking to no one, he walked straight to Mr. Potatohead. He picked up the defenseless toy and stared at the parts in the bowl. Then suddenly, we saw arms flying, noses yanked and twisted, eyeballs torn from their sockets and then jammed back in upside down. And when it was all over, we realized what he'd done. Right before our eyes, Bubba had given Mr. Potatohead an Extreme Makeover. And that day we learned something from Bubba:
Give customers something to do while they wait and they won’t mind the wait.
So we ran with it. We brought other timeless treasures from home – Etch-a-Sketch's, Lego’s, and Tavern puzzles. There’s a simple elegance to the toys that have been around for decades that our children today still enjoy. Of course, such child's play might not be right for every business, but the key is to provide your customer with something to do if they have to wait.
If you're in a service business that takes you into
the homes of your customers some things you might experiment with
include: providing a fill-in-the-blank puzzle, a
questionnaire, an article to read, or a Rubik's cube that has an imprint of your business
logo.(Maybe this will keep your customers busy so they won't stand over your shoulder and watch you work.)
Offering something for the customer to do will also help to:
1. Placate impatient customers.
2. Provide a more relaxed buying experience.
3. Encourage customers to tell their friends about your business.
I
don't know if Bubba told any of his friends about us, but I do know
that when he left that day, he was a changed man. Bubba looked back at
the sales counter, smiled, and nodded a "good-bye" before he walked out
the door. I couldn’t be sure if his farewell gesture was for us or... Mr.
Potatohead.
"If it isn't fun, you're not doing it right." Unknown
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