I walked by the farmers market today and saw two tables filled perfectly with strawberries. As soon as they sold one (which I ony saw them sell one) they filled the empty space with another carton of strawberries.
This, to me, seems very mechanical, that they were trying to streamline the process of selling strawberries. Where’s the service?
It looked like all they had to offer me were strawberries. No advice. No story behind the berries. No way to connect. Sure, most who want strawberries, just want strawberries. However, when you have five stands to choose from, the friendly looking ones are the most gone to – even if there’s a line.
This stand still sold strawberries, but not as many as other stands. And I guarantee the people they sold the berries to won’t be returning customers.
On an aesthetic note, the table wasn’t appealing. In fact, I sort of felt bad wanting to purchase some strawberries because it would throw things out-of-order. They like everything lined up perfectly. So do I.
But I’ll sacrifice my slight perfectionist attitude if I could make a friend and get strawberries at the same time.
Stay Positive & Service Requires More Than Two Movements*
Garth E. Beyer
*If all you expect customers to do is hand money and grab the product. Good luck staying in business.
