Georgette Ciukurescu never practiced the martial arts. But she managed to spot a gaping need for nunchakus, throwing stars and all-things Bruce Lee.
While helping a friend outfit his martial arts club 40 years ago, Ciukurescu noticed the lack of outlets carrying inventory. The frustration enticed her to feed the market need, starting by making nunchakus by hand at her kitchen table.
Product by product, Ciukurescu has grown Asian World of Martial Arts Inc. into an international manufacturer, supplier and distributor of martial arts and sports equipment.
But understanding consumer needs only gets you so far, Ciukurescu says. You also need to develop loyalty with customers by building strong relationships and providing good service.
“I want to embrace the customer,” she says. “I want them to say this company cares. And that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Ciukurescu, owner, founder, president and CEO of AWMA, passes that philosophy on to her team, which ranges from 35 to 50 employees depending on the season.
Smart Business spoke with Ciukurescu about how to provide customer service.
Build relationships. You have to communicate constantly with the individual (customer). If you can be with them one-on-one on the telephone, that’s even better.
You have to let them know that you’re just an average person just like they are, and sort of relate to them with all their ordinary day issues.
You have to get a feel for who your customer is and what they like and just stay with that individual connection. It’s very important in a business relationship as it is with even a personal relationship. I kind of relate the two.
I see with one of my employees, he sends out e-mails to his customers. He talks to them about the sports teams and what they’re doing. He talks to them about movies that he likes and has anyone seen a good movie. He gets dozens of responses from the customers just interacting about movies.
These are people that buy from us, but they love this guy. They love what he brings to the table besides business.
It’s not just all statistics. We’re your family, and that’s what we try to express with our customers. That’s what they get from us and from our employees, which makes us a little bit different than the other person and hopefully brings the loyalty base in with our customers.
Understand your customers’ needs. We’re constantly asking them how they feel about our product. Are there any problems with anything? What would they like to see differently? Is there a product that they would like to see us carry?
You try to find out is there something new they would like to see in the market. We want to make a good product, and we don’t want any complaints about it.
Everything is valuable information. You can’t ignore it. You just cannot ignore it.
You can’t always think you have the right answers, too. You do have to listen to what your customers are saying, and you do have to listen to your sales team because they’re dealing with the people on a day-to-day basis.
If you want to grow and be successful, you have to pay attention.
