Have you ever had to actually exert effort to buy things? From missing or idle salespeople in department stores, to companies that don’t return email or phone queries or RFPs, as a marketer, I’m annoyed when the sales department destroys the investment I made as a marketer to bring people in to buy.

So that said, let me tell a tale of FedExKinkos.

I have generally been impressed by FedEx Kinkos. Their prices are good, quality fine, and service / turnaround excellent, especially online. Which is why I’ve been particularly bemused by this experience.

I was lured away from my normal marketing supplier by FedExKinkos Marketing. Good job, guys – the email and in-store signs promising “Banners & Signs, 20% off” got my attention, and sure enough, your pricing was only about half of that of my normal supplier.

Great! I happily uploaded my art, and waited for banner to happen.

Here’s what happened.

·        Day 1: Uploaded art, input info, got nice automated note saying “we’ll contact you in 24 hours or less”.

·        Day 3: No results. I call local office. They have no record/ can’t find order number in system. They suggest I email art directly. I do, while on phone with them.

·        Day 5: I call again. They have art. I ask what happens. They say “we print proof for your approval, will call you when ready”.

·        Day 7: I call again. Oh yes, proof is ready. Do I want to come in? (NO). Oh, they’ll drop off proof.

·        Day 9: I call again. Oh, yeah, they forgot to drop off.

·        Day 10: Proof arrives. Colors wrong. I give them 3 printouts showing right colors, as well as Pantone numbers. (There are only two colors, blue and light grey. Theirs is blue and green.)

·        Day 13: I call again. See day 7.

·        Day 14: See day 9.

·        Day 15: I go in. Look at proof. Wrong colors again. Dark Grey <> Light grey. Even color blind person can see this, it’s a shade of grey…

·        Day 18: I go in again. Proof finally correct.

Note that it has “only” taken 18 days (so far) because I’ve been proactively calling. FedExKinkos has yet to call or email me…

Of course, I don’t have the banner yet.

But I have told all the marketing and sales teams I work with about this situation.

Marketers: It’s 10am, do you know where your leads are? Check on your sales team. See how quickly they call people back, what happens if they leave a message, etc – I’m sure you’ll be unpleasantly surprised. Have fun…

 
[ps: Please buy my book. http://buynow.stupidmarketing.com -- and tell your friends!]