Want to have a loyal customer? Think before you close on religious holidays.
For those who celebrate Easter, I hope it was enjoyable and relaxing.
But for me, one of millions who doesn’t celebrate the holiday, I was one angry consumer.
You see, I was in dire need of Diaper Genie liners, and thought, “Let’s take the girls shopping to get out of the house for a while.”
We went first to our local wholesale store. Closed. Then we went to a low cost department store. Not open. Off to the grocery store. Didn’t have them. Off to the mall… surely the mall will have them somewhere. Not open - except the Barnes and Noble, who was doing a killing, since anyone who forgot Easter was snapping up books and goodies. Plus, there were tons of people hanging out, just as if it was any other Sunday. (Clearly, we weren’t the only ones who didn’t celebrate!)
To me, it was bizarre. Easter is NOT a federal (public) holiday. So why were so many places closed?
Ok, Diaper Genie liners aren’t a life or death situation. But it got me thinking how small business owners and entrepreneurs who sell products or services for a living could really make a customer an evangelist - by being available when others are not. Even if you sell online, having your call center available could make a huge difference.
How do you make a difference to your customers?
POSTED IN: Customer Service, Entrepreneurship
4 opinions for Want to have a loyal customer? Think before you close on religious holidays.
linkerjpatrick
Mar 24, 2008 at 8:39 am
Well, you could look at that a few ways. For one a company doesn’t have to be available to everyone. We have been approached about doing projects for potential clients that would have gone against our religious and moral principles. Do we risk losing income? Of course but I would rather lose income that ideals I hold dear.
A good example and sometimes controversial company is Chick-Fil-A. The founder of the company is a Christian and he doesn’t believe the place should be open on Sundays. I’m not that legalistic even though I share the same faith but I definitely respect the fact that even though all the employees or customers may not share that view all employees still get the same day off and I know many people who respect the company because money is not the main motivator. Interestingly enough Chick-Fil-A in probably one of the highest quality and professionally run fast food places. The places are always clean and the employees and dressed professionally in their uniforms.
On the other hand the product you mentioned can be considered a necessity and even a lot of religous groups respect the business of necessity vs. want. Even though my wife and I (we are co-owners in our business) go to church and take it easy on Sunday we still consider ourselves “on-call” for any customer problems that may come up. However people do know and usually respect that Sunday or various holidays are not “working days” for us.
Kelly
Mar 24, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Business is business and when the majority of your client base has taken the day off to hunt for eggs or enjoy a spiral baked ham, it’s bad for the books to stay open for the minority who want to go shopping.
It might be a mistake to assume that all those Barnes and Noble shoppers were ‘not celebrating’ the holiday. Interestingly enough, I did celebrate Easter AND managed to spend about an hour shopping for clothes and groceries in the late afternoon ;)
ShannonCherry
Mar 25, 2008 at 6:01 am
Kelly,
I knew you’d have an opinion on this.
A couple of points:
1) I didn’t make an assumption that EVERYONE was not celebrating the holiday at Barnes & Noble. Surely, as I said in my post, I saw many people buying Easter gifts for kids there.
2) My point regarding this wasn’t that I thought EVERYONE should be open on a religious holiday, but that being accessible when your competitors aren’t can give you an advantage.
By the way, when you went shopping, did you see any Diaper Genie Liners? (Surely with all those cute quads you must have a need!)
Kelly
Mar 25, 2008 at 6:13 am
You’re right - you didn’t assume :) My bad ;)
LOL! Oh yeah… a need that never seems to end!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: