There are changes that have happened this past year in the way we shop. As consumers have adjusted to stay-at-home orders, business had to adapt to a new way of selling merchandise. More people are working from home or, if they are in an office, are limiting their exposure to people in the buying process. The question has been circulating among all businesses: how much of this is going to stick after the all clear is given and how much of it will go away.

There are two business services that have risen to the top of the make-it-or-break-it list with consumers during this past year of isolation: attentive customer service and fast delivery. I don’t think either of these expectations will diminish post-covid lockdowns. The truth is, that is good news for marketing, because both concepts are easy to market if you are a business that puts value on them.

Customer service has always been a very marketable concept. Those businesses that excel at it are likely to retain customers, those that are not will likely struggle with a bad name. I had a conversation the other day about a local tailoring business who has a reputation of doing wonderful work, but having inconvenient hours and – worse yet from my marketing perspective – very abrasive employees. No amount of marketing can resolve a bad reputation – not in this day of well-connected customers. No matter how good your brand is, if someone is treated rudely by the people in your business, you will lose customers. On the other side, those businesses who make customer service a priority are very marketable, especially right now. What has changed? The expectations of your target market. Let me give you an example.

If you have ventured into a bricks and mortar store recently, you have probably experienced the new customer service craze that has overtaken retail stores. That is order ahead/drive-through shopping. The bagboy is actually wandering the aisles, picking and placing items in a shopping cart, filling online orders, and loading them into autos without the customer exiting the car. Contactless shopping is as easy as driving to a parking lot, calling a number to let them know you have arrived and popping the trunk. Consumers have decided that they prefer for the store employees to walk their groceries to the car rather than providing a cart for them to do self-service shopping. It is part of the new customer service that is not going away with a vaccine. However, that exchange between the bagboy and the customer is critical to the reputation of your brand. A well-trained, respectful, and upbeat employee who knows how to handle customer expectations becomes the very action that will separate your business from your competition. That should be marketed heavily.

Delivery has become a big deal breaker too. If you cannot deliver fast, you are doing damage to your brand. We have come to expect to make all of our purchases online and get delivery the next day. That may work great if you have a large inventory and a trustworthy shipping company. But what if you are in a business that cannot deliver overnight? I’m thinking about companies who engineer and build complicated products. I don’t expect to order a custom automobile and get it the next day! In fact, I would be very suspicious of a car that was rushed through the manufacturing process. Who gets to determine the definition of "fast?” Consumers always get the last word, but that should be with a little expectation push from marketing. Your marketing should define fast delivery within your industry. Delivering faster than your competition, for instance, is typically a plus.

You may think that both of these concepts are geared more for business-to-consumer retail sales. You would be fooling yourself if you think your customers will not demand of you what they get from a retail business. Here is the truth about the last year: we found out that home delivery of nearly everything was possible. That expectation is not going away.

What stays and what goes away from a year of covid restrictions? There is a new definition around stellar customer service and delivery of products anywhere. You need to adjust your business model to make it happen and then get the word out. Build it into your marketing message. It is key to meeting the demands of your customers.