Bathroom Blogfest - A Story of an Engaged Consumer and Toilet Attendant!

I was delighted to be asked to participate in the Bathroom Blogfest 2007 which runs from Sunday, October 28 through Friday, November 2.  It features 22 bloggers from around the globe, writing about the importance of bathrooms in the customer experience.

Today I wanted to talk about a bathroom that I visited several years ago - unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the family store in Devon,  not because it wasn't memorable but because of my age!

I remember speaking to the person cleaning and saying "Thank you, you must be very proud of how beautiful you keep this room?"
The lady turned and said "My boss is a very strange man, he understands women!"
After laughing I asked "What do you mean?"

She said "When I was interviewed he told me that this was part of the retail store. That women make the majority of the buying decisions and did I want the chance of helping to influence the ladies! He asked me to think of how I could make the restroom a marketing tool! Well, I didn't even know what marketing was, I am 64 you know, but I just thought how do we make this a place that makes people leave and want to buy from us. So I brought in a couple of soft chairs for older people to sit whilst waiting, fresh flowers to give that natural smell, decorated inside the cubicles like you were at home with scenic photo's etc and put a few of our products on display saying if you like this there is one waiting for you in store....I even added little promotions at different times of the year."

I was desperate at this stage to go to the toilet myself by this point!!!
But I said "Your boss made a great decision in recruiting you" She smiled and said "It helped being his mother!"

I laughed - maybe her engagement was because she wanted the retail store to succeed, but the most telling part for me was that the running of the bathrooms was done by the owners' mother! ...Because that room was an extension of the retail experience....wow!

Do you have any stories or if you would like to contribute, please e-mail me your photos and explanation , and I will link to you and include them in the festival.

Here are the links to this year’s participating bloggers:

• Kate Rutter—Adaptive Path
• Laurence Helene Borel—Blog Till You Drop
• Iris Shreve Garrott—checking out and checking in
• Susan Abbott—Customer Experience Crossroads
• Maria Palma—Customers Are Always
• Becky Carroll—Customers Rock!
• Toby Bloomberg—Diva Marketing
• Stephanie Weaver—Experienceology
• Linda Tischler—Fast Company Now
• C.B. Whittemore—Flooring the Consumer
• Ed Pell—K+B DeltaVee
• Helene Blowers—Library Bytes
• Claudia Schiepers—Life and its little pleasures
• Katie Clark—Practical Katie
• Sandra Renshaw—Purple Wren
• Reshma Anand—Qualitative Research
• Marianna Hayes—Results Revolution
• Carolyn Townes—Spirit Women
• Sara Cantor—The Curious Shopper
• Anna Farmery—The Engaging Brand
• Dee McCrorey—The Ultimate Corporate Entrepreneur
• Katia S. Adams—Transcultural

Comments

[C.B. Whittemore]

Anna, what a wonderful story! It absolutely captures why this Bathroom Blogfest matters so much. Thanks!

[Sandy Renshaw]

What a wonderful story. Wish all the bathrooms were like that! Thanks for sharing.

Sandy

[SusanA]

Great story. And clever son who identified that he needed to pay attention to the whole experience. and then give mom leave to take some initiative to make it work.