Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Blog GPS: Relating by Design IKEA Part 2





It is so important that we take all of our relationships into account: personal and business. 


Those that know me know that if I respect you, you give me good service or if I truly believe in you, that I will be your biggest supporter and advocate... That doesn't come easy though. 

The same theory holds true if I get bad service or am treated poorly. I don't always broadcast my displeasure... But, I will definitely give my two cents if asked. Word of mouth and referrals mean something. The biggest compliment is to get a referral from a friend or colleague...

I am loyal to the core. So this post had me thinking about those relationships. Big companies sometimes forget or don't care about relationships, reputation or garnered customer loyalty. I would throw out there that it is important for all of us to consider our relationships.  

I posted about IKEA yesterday. It wasn't positive or negative. Here is a short story about the community relations from IKEA. I will leave it up to you... how you feel about them as a company after hearing the story. I can tell you that with my predisposition and loyalty factor... I haven't gone into IKEA since this happened. I have made purchases elsewhere and even spent a little more... because I found this so tasteless....

I have a high school friend that just lost her home in the Colorado fire. It was their dream home that they built from scratch... We work our whole lives to create a loving space like that for our families. They had many people come out and offer support and items from their hearts. There was a church community that donated their time. They worked to clean up the home sites so that the homeowners did not have to deal with all of the stress... Many offered goods and services to help them recover their lives...

IKEA was one of the companies that offered goods to the fire victims. They did not offer gift certificates to the homeowners to help them get furniture, kitchen supplies, towels, bedding... The fire victims were told that they would get a gift box with merchandise from IKEA.

If it had been me, I would have anticipate the kindness of IKEA and been excited to look in that box... Well, they did get a box and the first thing that my friend pulled out was an old gingerbread house... Probably from several Christmases gone by... and it was the middle of summer... Then there were the Bollywood Pillows. I am not sure what a big hit Bollywood was in Colorado, but it seems like a very specific item. It just got worse. Most of what was in that box would have been sent to the trash or Goodwill, if it was in my home. Did IKEA think that they were so desperate that they should send items that were piling up in storage somewhere... merchandise that wouldn't even sell for pennies in their clearance section? 



So, were they giving from the heart? Were they contributing to community? Did they care at all about the people that lost their homes? ... or did they just want to get rid of some crap that was so bad it didn't even sell on clearance... A Tax write off? Is that all that the fire victims were???

Think about where you spend your money... I do believe that businesses should earn your dollars...

Whether you own a business, donate your time a school, organize the bake sale... or your giving of yourself or time... Think about your intentions and how your actions may be interpreted. Perception becomes reality to the receiver... Relationships can be effected by how people interpret your actions.

Were IKEA's Intentions interpreted correctly? Hard to tell... Thoughtful or thoughtless... Hard to tell... But, pretty easy to be cynical on this end.

Just some food for thought.....

Kimberly R Lifestyle by Design 
Designing a life with grace and ease 


2 comments:

  1. Kimberly,
    My heart goes out to the family who lost their home and all the precious memories. I would forward this beautifully written blog to the Headquarters at Ikea and see if they respond? If not, then you know it is a tax write off. It could be someone is supposed to give or do something different and they are pocketing the money? I feel like this is not right on Many levels. It is cruel to send such tasteless junk to a family who is already dealing with enough problems.

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    1. Good idea... I will forward it to them. Thanks for the feedback.

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