OFI 978: What Do You Really Have To Offer?

Those of you who do not live in the Western States are probably not familiar with the photo I used as the featured image for this episode of the Off-Farm Income Podcast.  That is a photo of the Les Schwab Tire Center that is located in my hometown of Kuna, Idaho, and I have them up there for a reason.

Les Schwab Tires is the epitome of a company that knows how to provide customer service.  I took this photo on a Saturday afternoon when I had gone there for assistance.  Earlier that day I was feeding cattle in our creek bottom on our side by side, and I ran over a small log with a broken branch sticking straight up.  Somehow, I managed to puncture my tire with a piece of broken wood and take with me as I finished feeding.  Thankfully, it stayed in there or I would have been instantly flat because the hole was so large.

When I finished feeding that morning I took the wheel off of the Ranger and threw it in the back of the truck.  Later that day I headed into town, to Les Schwab.  When I pulled into the parking lot I knew that I didn’t need to walk into the lobby.  Within minutes one of the technicians came running out to my pickup, asked me what the problem was and hauled the wheel into the shop.  About ten minutes later he brought the wheel back out. The tire was patched and inflated, and there was no charge and no need to go into the lobby.  All with a smile on his face.

As if that were not enough, Les Schwab is always the #1 supporter of 4H and FFA exhibiters at our county fair, every year.  I shudder to think of what would happen to prices for fair projects if every Les Schwab store manager was not sitting in the stands, buying about 50% of the animals at our fair auction.  Their support of our young people can’t even hope to be matched, and that is just at our one fair.  There are hundreds of county fairs all across Les Schwab’s territory in which they do the same thing.

Les Schwab is the only tire store in Kuna.  Yes, people here can drive into larger towns that are nearby to get tires, but if they choose to stay in Kuna they only have one choice.  This doesn’t matter to Les Schwab.  They provide outstanding customer service regardless of a lack of competition in our town.  They do this because they understand what they are really selling.  Yes, they are selling tires, brakes, alignments, wheels, etc., but they are wise enough really know what their product is and to be the best at it.  I will admit, I don’t even shop tires anymore.  For Autumm’s car, my pickup, the tractor or the side by side, we go straight to Les Schwab, no questions asked.

Contrast this experience to one I had at a very large grocery chain just a few weeks ago.  I had stopped into this grocery store to purchase a couple of things.  This particular store has checkers and courtesy clerks, and it also has automated check out stations where you can do it all yourself.

There was nobody in line at one of the check out stations that people were working at, so I took my products to them.  There was a young lady, about 20 years old ringing up the items, and a courtesy clerk about the same age standing there.  They were engrossed in a conversation about some social activity they had both been involved with.  Neither of them greeted me or said one word to me.  The checker simply ran my items in front of the laser reader and slid them to the courtesy clerk who kind of pulled them all together in a stack on the other end of the counter.  There were only about four items.  Their conversation continued this entire time, as if I was not there.

I paid for the items with a credit card, and I took care of that part of the transaction completely by myself, following the instructions on the screen of the device.  When the transaction was completed, one of them finally spoke to me.  The courtesy clerk said, “are you going to want a bag for this?” I couldn’t help it.  I asked them both if they no longer greeted customers.  They looked shocked, probably because people don’t usually protest this lack of service.

As I collected my items and started to walk out, I couldn’t help but notice the irony of the automated check stands just feed away from these two people.  Immediately adjacent to these two people who were being paid to provide something was a group of robots or computers that allowed people like myself to check out my own groceries without the assistance of employees.  These people’s jobs were being replaced by automation right in front of their eyes.

With advent of scanners and touch screen computers that will allow you to look up the codes for vegetables and allow you to weight them yourself, a check and and courtesy clerk have become completely obsolete.  These two people who were so engrossed in this conversation only have one thing of value to offer their employer that can save their jobs, and that is customer service.  Otherwise, they are completely unnecessary.  However, they did not recognize this.

My guess is that if you asked either of these two people what they did for a living they would answer that they checked or bagged groceries.  But that answer is wrong.  The checking and bagging of groceries has been automated.  The only thing of value that they have to offer their employer is customer service to the shoppers.  This is the one thing that a computer cannot replicate.

It is my contention that if they really cared about keeping their jobs and really understood what they were providing, they would have provided incredible customer service.  They would provide something that would cause customers to skip the automated check out and to become fans of that store.  But they didn’t know.

For those of who are going to choose entrepreneurship to support your agricultural lifestyle I want you to look deep to figure out what you really are offering.  In the sector of entrepreneurship that we talk about on this show there are many people who can get the work done.  But there are few who can talk to customers, show up on time, keep appointments or call when they are going to be delayed.  This has always been the secret of this sector.

I want you to succeed with these ventures, especially if it was me who inspired you to do it.  Make sure you are being very honest with yourself about what you give.  It is all you have!

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