Idea 12: Let Me in the Club

I love it when I get an inside track about what I'm buying or should be buying. 
My favorite clerk always shows me the new thing that just came in, or the perfect accessory that will make my ensemble complete, or pull something out of the back room that hasn't been put into "regular" inventory yet. 
It makes me feel special.  It makes me feel like she knows me and she cares about me. 
I totally know that this is a sales technique that makes me spend more and I don't care.  It's all about me and how I feel and that favorite clerk is my favorite for that reason.
Find out ways to replicate that and bring your customers into the "Insider's Club."

Idea 11: Stay In Touch

Remind me that I made a great decision to do business with you.
When I leave, make sure you have a plan for staying in touch with me:

• send me an email with valuable information - be sure that I don't perceive it as spam by sending me something dumb
• call me and say something valuable, don't say something dumb
• send me a card on the birth of my major purchase
• don't harrass me, just keep your name on my radar

Idea 10: Reassurance

Reassure me that you are the expert, that you will do the worrying, that you will take care of me.  Your confidence in your ability to do what your sign says you do makes me happy I am spending my money with you.

Idea 9: Make It Comfortable

Airports are made for waiting and they have the worst waiting rooms in the world!
Consider your waiters.
Are there comfortable chairs in your business?
Are there enough for everybody who is waiting?
Are the chairs accessible throughout your facility?
Remember that when I am comfortable, I will spend money.  What do you want me to do at your place of business?

Idea 8: Don't Just Offer

You know how when someone offers you a drink or a snack, you always politely say no?  Sometimes you really want a drink but you say you're okay and don't take it. Maybe you don't know them well, maybe you think you'll feel uncomfortable, maybe you don't want to "put them out."
Well, I ran into a guy who really understood hospitality.  He said "let's get a cup of coffee first" and started escorting me to the coffee pot.  That launched a profitable meeting, for us both.
It's hard to explain how that leveled us out.  How having a treat together greased the wheels.  It just did.
That's a good thing to emulate.
Don't just assume I know where the coffee pot or water fountain are.
Take me there.  Partake with me.  Let's get a cup of coffee first.

Idea 7: Look Like Your Neighborhood

When I go into a business, I want to see what I see all around me, which is men and women, older and younger, a mix of races.
A lack of diversity at a business is troubling.  It raises questions, like why does only one type of employee fit in here?  Where are the older employees?  Where are the women?  Why is everyone the same race?
If I wonder and feel uncomfortable I am less likely to spend money.  And it's not just me.  This has been studied.  It's of vital importance to decision makers (which is almost always women in families.)
A woman does not want to walk into a college men's locker room... really, she doesn't.

Idea 6

Keep your restrooms surgically clean.
When there is no soap, or no towels, or no toilet paper, or a dispenser is broken, or water is splashed on the floor, or trash is overflowing, it makes me think this is just the tip of the iceberg.  What else is not being taken care of?
It's just yucky and I can't look favorably on the rest of your operation.

Idea 5

When you hear somebody in your employ use a term that is really excellent, like instead of saying "yeah", or "yes", or "no problem", they say "absolutely!", talk that up!
Replicate excellence. Ask everyone to follow the new standard.
I heard someone say "ABSOLUTELY" in response to a question, and it was fantastic.  I wanted to be there.  I was confident.  I was impressed.  I admired that.

Idea 4

When you do something really well and it's a differentiator... like carrying a box out to my car for me, make sure you do it EVERY time.  You have set expectations, you have set yourself apart, now make sure that you execute it consistently so I am not disappointed the one day when you decide you can't or won't do it.

Idea 3

I love it when you have a sale, obviously.
Could you tell me how much I'm saving, or what it usually costs?
Love to see it line-itemed out.

Idea 2

Talk to me with words and also with signs.
For longer term events and interactions, keep me informed of what's next, what to expect, when.
For short term, have a conversation with me.
If I need to navigate on my own on your website, make sure there are sign posts and directions all along the way to tell me where I am and how I'm doing.
If I need to navigate your physical space, make sure there are signs and arrows along the way to tell me where I am and how I'm doing.
Don't assume that I know how to navigate your business.  Don't assume it physically, where certain departments are.  Don't assume it philosophically, who does what and who I should be asking.
I am in another country - be the hospitable host.

30 Days of Real Ways to Improve

Seth Godin had a great idea today and I am going to take him up on it.  His thought is that rather than waiting for a muse to inspire your creativity or productivity, seek out the great ideas, train them, and they will become part of your personal SOP.  He recommended picking your favorite company and write a new idea down for 30 days on things they could do to improve their product or service.   Obviously, a slacker company does too many things wrong and I only go there when forced, if at all.  But someplace I love, now finding ideas for them to be even better takes effort.

I'm not going to tell you who my favorite company is.  I don't want you to fixate on a specific business.  All businesses are populated by people therefore they all have some common issues.  So my ideas should sound universal enough to apply to restaurants, tech support lines, online drugstores, and of course auto dealerships.  So, here goes, these are my thoughts on what would make company AAA an even better place:

Idea 1
Tell me (the customer) your name.  Make sure I know and remember your name.  You can wear a name tag.  You can give me your card.  You can say your name to me at least twice.  Make yourself human and you turn the transactional into the relational. Cha-ching!$$$$

Examine for Excellence

I indulged in a matinee the other day to watch a movie that I knew my husband would not, could not, possibly appreciate: Eat, Pray, Love
I sometimes joke that I must've been French in a former life because of my inclination for drama, self-overexamination, and just all around angst.  This flick is the perfect indulgence for such a temperament.
Looking around the auditorium over a sparce weekday crowd, I noted it was also all female.  Yes, other women had the same idea as me.
It was pure indulgence.  I had popcorn for lunch.  I cried my eyes out and didn't even care if other movie goers knew it.
So, I digress.  This does have something to do with excellence... and this is it:
The unexamined life is not worth living.  Socrates said this first when he was on trial for heresy and wouldn't fight for a life sentence versus the death penalty.  My take on it is that people who examine their lives, who think about where they’ve been, how they got here, and where they’re going, are the happiest people.  Happier people are able to be more productive, make more money, be more successful at what they want to do.
What made me cry most while watching the movie was seeing the regret of letting time pass and not be who she wanted to be.  When she set out to make the time to examine, to learn, to experience, she could then set about being and doing what was really valuable for her. 
That's excellence.  Stop the merry-go-round.  Think about where you are.  Think about where you want to be and where you want to go.  That time out of not going round and round, that time to breathe, is vital to being excellent and to reducing regrets.  And reducing regrets, reduces the tears.

Make a Courteous Left Turn

I don't consider Wichita a big city.  But I've never seen something in town that I've just recently noticed during my expanse of time on rural highways.  And my friends in smaller towns tell me this is just the way it is... it's not new.
I'm driving down a 2-lane road behind a large truck, I think it had recently harvested grain in the back.  His left turn signal and brake lights came on so I began to slow. 
Here's the neat part: he pulled into the other lane, for oncoming traffic, and continued to slow and then turn.  (Don't panic.  We are in Kansas where most highways are very flat and very straight so you can see quite a ways and tell no traffic is coming up.)
It was so courteous, and really so sensible. 
Why should we both slow way down for his left turn if only one really needs to?  Well, when it's analyzed by a law enforcement type, that guy was breaking the law by crossing into the oncoming traffic lane.  On the other hand, even a law enforcement type isn't going to create a fuss unless an actual accident occurs.
Sometimes, the right thing to do is not the "by the books" way.  And I love that. 
I love somebody who is so thoughtful of his co-drivers that he would think of this and break the law.  That is an action I would love to see replicated.  That is the kind of person I want to buy a beer.  That is the kind of person I want to surround myself with. 
I hope that kind of person doesn't only reside in rural Kansas.  I'm a proud Kansan, and would love to take credit that we are all just that way here.  But I know better.  We are not.  But we can aspire to be that way.  And we can.  Really.  Be.  That.  Way.