Alpacadero Alpacas, Seattle, WA

My first female cria, Amaya, gave birth to a rose gray male sometime during the night, so they share the same birthdate (May 5th). This was also the night of the so-called super moon, or lunar perigee, when the moon appears extra large due to being at it’s closest in it’s orbit to the earth. What a wonderful feeling to see the third generation from alpacas you have raised and bred. Later this year, I am looking forward to seeing the first offspring of one of the male alpacas I raised, Cuppajoe (now owned by Big Rock Candy Mountain Alpacas in Fall City, WA).

I think it is fair to say that one of the most important things to consider when getting into the alpaca business is what kind of support is available for you draw on. Of course, we need to learn all the different aspects of caring for the alpacas themselves, but many of us have little to no experience as business owners and have much to learn regarding the successful operation of the business side of things. Many people soon find out that while they thought they were going to be spending most of their time dealing with alpacas, they soon find out that they spend far more time doing bookkeeping, marketing, advertising, web site updates, tracking sales leads, planning open farm days, yada, yada, yada. Soon you are thinking: wow, nobody told me that I’d be doing all this stuff. Although I find many sources for information on marketing, one of the aspects of operating a successful small business that I don’t see addressed very often is Customer Service.

One sure way to go out of business is to forget that customers are the lifeblood of your business. A good product or service – combined with a strong customer service focus – will ensure that your customers keep coming back for more, and be your best advertising by word-of-mouth. Now more than ever, with everyone using online social media such as Twitter and Facebook, every satisfied customer is now a booster for your company and every dissatisfied customer potentially can hurt your business.

In general, what does good customer support look like?

• Be a good listener to identify and anticipate needs. Take the time to identify customer needs by asking questions and concentrating on what the customer is really saying. Listen to their words, tone of voice, body language, and most importantly, how they feel. Beware of making assumptions – thinking you intuitively know what the customer wants. Do you know what three things are most important to your customer? Customers don’t buy products or services. They buy good feelings and solutions to problems. Most customer needs are emotional rather than logical. The more you know your customers, the better you become at anticipating their needs. Communicate regularly so that you are aware of problems or upcoming needs.
• Make customers feel important and appreciated. Treat them as individuals. Always use their name and find ways to compliment them, but be sincere. People value sincerity. It creates good feeling and trust. Think about ways to generate good feelings about doing business with you. Customers are very sensitive and know whether or not you really care about them. Thank them every time you get a chance.
• Appreciate the power of “Yes”. Always look for ways to help your customers. When they have a request (as long as it is reasonable) tell them that you can do it. Figure out how afterward. Look for ways to make doing business with you easy. Always do what you say you are going to do.
• Give more than expected.Since the future of all companies lies in keeping customers happy, think of ways to elevate yourself above the competition. Consider the following:
  • What can you give customers that they cannot get elsewhere?
  • What can you do to follow-up and thank people even when they don’t buy?
  • What can you give customers that is totally unexpected?
• Know how to apologize. When something goes wrong, apologize. It’s easy and customers like it. The customer may not always be right, but the customer must always win. Deal with problems immediately and let customers know what you have done. Make it simple for customers to complain. Value their complaints. As much as we dislike it, it gives us an opportunity to improve.

When you sell somebody an alpaca, you are hopefully contributing to the success of your customer’s alpaca business. Focus on finding out how you can help them to succeed in their alpaca business, and when you achieve that you will be helping your own alpaca business to be successful. It seems that so many people see themselves in competition with other alpaca breeders, that they overlook potential opportunities, forgetting that if other alpaca breeders fail, it hurts the industry as a whole.

Some suggestions on how to provide excellent customer service to alpaca customers include:

• Bend over backwards to be available to answer their questions. And remember: there is no such thing as a stupid question. Never make the mistake of making your customer feel embarrassed for asking a sincere question.
• Where possible and appropriate, invite your customers to participate in your farm events, including herd health chores if they are still learning to take care of alpacas themselves. Sure it may take you longer to get those chores done, and you may have to be flexible in your schedule, but few things are more important — and valued — by new alpaca owners. The goodwill you will create is priceless.
• Plan co-marketing opportunities with your customers. Show them with actions that you are invested in their future success and that customer support does not end when the sale is complete.
• Raising alpacas has an emotional aspect to it because they are so endearing and people become emotionally attached to them. Our alpacas become like members of our family. Your customer’s alpaca, Fluffy, may not be one of yours, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to be as sensitive to Fluffy’s well-being as if it were one of your own. One of the secrets of giving good customer service is that people may not always remember what words you use, but they do remember the way they felt when you said them.

View the results of our alpaca customer service survey.

I hope that this information, both the good and the bad, will be instructive.

Today I received the latest edition of the Cas-Cad-Nac Alpaca Farm newsletter. While reading the article promoting their upcoming “Wicked Good Alpaca Weekend” event, I was struck by the following:

“The idea is a simple one really: create a venue for our customers to promote their farms and breeding programs in a way that makes good economic sense for them. So many small breeders struggle with the marketing piece of their business when they first start out so it is our hope that this can give at least a small leg up to those who have been kind enough over the years put their trust (and their money) with us!”

Cas-Cad-Nac and Tripping Gnome Farm have joined together to create a pen sale and educational event that benefits not only the two host farms, but also their customers. New breeders have an uphill climb to gain name recognition and attract potential customers, but by lending a small piece of that recognition and goodwill to their clients, they give them something very precious. When was the last time you ever heard of an alpaca breeder that offered that level of support to help their clients to succeed? Or any business for that matter? It strikes me as a very enlightened belief: that if our customers succeed, then they will most likely refer more business to us and purchase from us again in the future. If our customers fail for lack of support during the usual struggles to start a new business venture, the negative fallout will most likely hurt us all.

In other words: united we stand, divided we fall. Too bad there are so few who share that philosophy.

Join Matthew Modine and all his celebrity friends to help Save the Alpacas today.