For years our family ordered pizza from a local place. I was a loyal customer. Over time however, we noticed the quality had changed. The service was still top notch, but the pizzas and donairs – well they just were not up to what we thought they used to be. We still ordered. We still believed that the next order would be what it used to be. I am not sure if the pizza shop changed hands, had some finance problems, but whatever it was, it was still not improving the product. In fact it was deteriorating in quality. Like our faith.
So when a few years ago when my kids started at junior high and then asked (no that is not right – demanded) that we order from a shop near the school where the students all went now an again for slice. My first question was – is this a chain? No it was not. Good. I do not like to order from chains as it is cookie cutter blah taste of goo on cardboard, and the money leaves my city, province, and ultimately my country. I prefer local pizza thank you.
So steps in Dimitris Pizza to our family life. By now when I order and give my home number they know where to deliver it to. They also know that there will be overly friendly dogs and that no matter the weather we will pay debit on the front step to make sure that the delivery guy is not bothered by them.
And yes. The product is the best I have had in this city to date. Even my last shop in it’s earliest days was not to where this place is at. And the donairs? Well let’s just say that if you are not in Halifax, then you are crying right now.
So enough about Dimitris product quality for now. Why did I mention this? It comes down to word of mouth marketing (or is this word of taste?).
In 2012 when we got our first order, I was so impressed I had to post on the wall of the Dimitris Pizza Page and tell them so.
Up until now, that comment sat quietly on that page. Then came last Saturday. I ordered as usual some pizza and when it came to the house, I was a bit surprised. See until now, there was no brochure that many pizza companies have, and the pizza or donair in the bag were simply stamped. I used my mobile to find the number or asked others in my family for the number. They knew it by heart. I however suck at remembering numbers.
So yes there was a new shiny brochure on the box. Ripped it off and saved it and then we dug into the great food. Someone noticed the front of the brochure. Looks like they dug into their comments and gave me front-page presence because of my previous post.
Nice.
I must also add that this is the only time I have seen testimonials from a Facebook page which I can readily identify, which drew the eyes of not me but the family, to my comment in the first place.
Testimonials are so powerful. The brochure is full of others who also gave comments. Now if you run a shop where most of your sales are sent out, how can you EVER get testimonials? You can’t. A lot of SME (small to medium enterprises) will never be able to capitalize on verbal testimonials like they can with those posted in a social media way. Be it a tweet to your brand, a comment on your page, or a stylized Instagram image, interaction with your shop is more easier than ever. Even than 2011.
For me I still like to order from a couple of places for the Canadian version of Chinese food. We have an internal fight (2-2) about which two to order from and they both are great. It will only take a slight slip in quality of the product when we choose a champion.
And when that happens that champion will know about it on social media.
So continue to make yourselves available to your customers. But by all means – do NOT slip on the product. When you do, I might have to change sides.
Oh as a final thought, I would be remiss if I did not let you try it for yourself.
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