12A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

I chose a segment of new business owners for these interviews.

Interviewees: 

Tyler: New business owner, started business 6 months ago.

Madison: Restaurant owner of 5 years.

Fernando: Owner of a small retail establishment, started 10 years ago

Grant: Manager at a fast food restaurant

Key questions:

"How is the customer service coming from your employees in your business?"

T: "Its adequate, but it needs to improve."

M: "It is continually getting better, but we struggle with keeping our best employees"

F: "It is solid, but could always be better"

G: "It is very up and down. Sometimes I have a group of great employees, but other times I have many who are not very friendly."

"What do you think would make that better?"

T: " I'm trying to develop a better training plan, I think that will help"

M: " We just need to keep working with our employees and developing these skills in them"

F: "I think just by continually encouraging my team members"

G: "Hiring more experienced employees would help, as well as having a more organized training plan when they start."

"Would you look outside your business for help with training in that area?"

T: "Maybe, but it would depend on what the circumstances of my store were at the time."
M: "Yeah, I would if I knew whatever it was would be effective."

F: "No, I think this is something I can handle in house."
G: "Possibly, but whatever it is would need to be something that I have assurance would work"

"Would you hire an outside professional to come in and train your employees in customer service?"

T: "Possibly, but it sounds like something that would be expensive and I might not be able to afford that"
M: "I don't know, I like to oversee my employee's training myself, or have one of my managers oversee it.

F: "No, I think I can handle this."

G: "Yes, if I know they are effective. Also if it was not going to be too expensive."

Overview: 

I found that people are skeptical of the idea. Business owners are concerned about the price of the service, as well as the idea  of having someone they do not know training their people. I think that there could be some demand for this service, but it is iffy. Businesses like to oversee their own training, so I would have to make the service where we do the training, while the business managers oversee us as we do the training. I think this could make the service more attractive to business owners. I would also have to figure out prices, as that is clearly a concern for business owners as well.

About this segment:
I think there are a lot of business owners in this segment that recognize that their employees need help in this area. They see the struggle in this area of their business, but do not necessarily know what to do. They are in need of guidance in this area, but are skeptical of the details.