Trying Harder

My cell phone conversation today with the dry cleaner:

Dry Cleaner: “Hello, Vienna Cleaners.”

Me: “I might have dropped a shirt off there before Christmas, but I can’t remember. Can you check and see?”

Dry Cleaner: “Sure… <pause> Looks like you have one here.”

Me (surprised): “Huh? Oh, ok… Thanks. I’ll be there in a minute.”

——–

Here’s the kicker – she didn’t ask for my name to find my shirt. In a matter of seconds she looked at the caller ID, looked under “L” on her cleaning list for Lee, saw my cleaning slip and told me I had a shirt ready.

And that’s how it should work with your customers. Be pro-active, try harder. Not because you have to (even though you do) but because you’re smart and you want to. It’s often the small (and free!) things that get your customers to tell their friends about your business.

Leave Me Wanting More

Leave Me Wanting More

• :30 previews on iTunes.
• First visit/bottle/consult/sample is free.
• A free trial subscription (Netflix, magazines, web content, etc.)
• Limited edition versions of your product.
• Did Nintendo keep Wii inventories purposefully low during Christmas?
• You over deliver.

Leave Me Wanting Less

• Charging me forty-five cents to buy $55 worth of your gas because I want to use my debit card. (Yes, I’m talking to you Arco.)
• Your annoying automated phone system.
• Your employees who smother me with too much chatter, sales pressure, or crappy power point presentations.
• Overexposure.
• Your company continues to spam me with nothing new to say or offer.