Ray's Candy Store stands on the corner of Avenue A and Seventh Street in New York City. It's an all night slice of life on the east side of Greenwich Village that for the past 37 years has delivered all kinds of food 24/7 -- essential if you've ever lived in Manhattan.For the past few weeks, customers have been helping out at the store, running deliveries and staging two fund-raisers to help the owner, Ray Alvarez, pay overdue bills. Other customers are helping to sort out an insurance issue by providing the labor to install a necessary piece of equipment so he can continue to provide his Belgian fries, a staple of his operation.
Ray Alvarez has built up a huge store of social capital in his neighborhood. At a time when some businesses are "too big to fail", others struggle to survive. Businesses of all sizes should stake stock of their own stores of social capital if they are going to enjoy the kind of customer loyalty today that will fuel growth. Ray Alvarez's tale holds lessons for all of us who run a business, no matter what size it is.
Know Your Customers (And Let Them Know You): Nothing makes us buy more and tell people about it than companies who make us feel special. When people feel a business knows them, it creates an important emotional connection. Customers buy from companies they've researched (so feel they know), have heard about or have experienced. How are you connecting with customers? Are they part of a larger community you've created for them? Are you using social media to be part of a networked customer base? It's much more than slotting buyers into marketing segments.
Give Customers an Experience They Can't Get Anywhere Else: What experience do your customers expect from you? Does your culture support an experience your customers deserve? Ray's delivers any time of the day or night and has created an oasis of old New York in a neighborhood taken over by expensive wine bars and chain coffee shops.
Customers' Memories Are Long; Don't Forget It! The adults who now are rallying to preserve Ray's Candy Store were the children and teenagers who remembered getting a break from the owner when they didn't have the money to pay for their orders. What memories of your company do you create for your customers?
Don't Squander Your Social Capital: Over the years, Ray has employed people from the neighborhood and they've stayed for decades. His customers describe his store as "an icon of our childhood" and think of him as a friend. Even Ray's landlord, who could have attracted another trendy retail outlet to his building, is working with his tenant to ensure that the store remains part of the fabric of the neighborhood.
Social capital is a currency that is easily devalued by the memory of poor experiences and a sense of buying from a company that acts too big to care.
How are you creating memories, networks and connections for your customers? Do you really know them? Do they really know you?
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What a cool story. I guess social media becomes that outlet for a company to tell it's story through a series of posts, blogs, tweets, etc. I have never really thought about creating memories for our customers. Mostly it has been about creating the experience for me. So maybe it is both....a memorable experience. Just like Disney.
ReplyDeleteI think that social media as part of an overall customer strategy has a big role to play these days in creating memories and telling stories. The emotional connection that Ray's customers had to his store is the manifestation of his social capital. I believe this kind of connection, created through many touch points, including employee interactions and networks, will create big competitive advantages for companies. The trick will be to make it an authentic part of the experience, like Disney and Ray Alvarez, not an add on that feels wrong.
ReplyDeleteTruly amazing and inspirational Barbara.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Corrine but it should be the way all companies view their customers. I know that you do!
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