The other day I decided to go through the drive thru lane of
a local coffee stand on my way to work and pick up my regular
order of a 12 oz drip with rice milk and two raw sugars. It was a wet, rainy day. A very, very wet, rainy day. I pulled up to the stand, rolled down my
window and gave the kind lady my order.
In the mean time, all that dampness proceeded to irritatingly work its way into my
car as the rain drip, drip, dripped through my open window while I patiently
waited for my cup of hot brew. In a short time, though, my lovely cup of java
was presented to me and the fee was exchanged for it. Here’s where it gets good. Something happened that has never ever
happened to me before, even though I live in one of the most rainy, wet
states in the lower 48. The barista
handed me a big bunch of paper towels to dry off the interior of my car that
had gotten wet. Yes, I’ll admit, it
doesn’t sound all that exciting. But it
did make me extremely happy to have something to do with all that uninvited
moisture. Plus, and this is a big plus, it
made me feel taken care of.
Now, let me just say, this wasn’t an aha moment for me that
made me decide that I will forevermore patronize this coffee stand and no other coffee
stand for as long as I shall ever drink coffee.
That’s because, for various reasons, it has always been my favorite
local coffee stop. The baristas are nice, it’s relatively inexpensive, and the coffee is consistently good. They always had me. But it definitely gave me one more good
reason why I will continue to come back.
And sometimes, as business owners, that’s exactly what we need to
do. We should always give great
service. We should always offer a great product that we truly believe in. And at times, we should give
our customers one more good reason that they should continue to come back. It’s called going the extra mile.
What have you done lately to go the extra mile? Have you made your customers feel like they
have been well taken care of?
2 comments:
Julie, I love the post."The Extra Mile" something I try to instill in my company everyday. I will use your coffee stand story in our next company meeting. Thanks, Charlie
Thanks, Charlie! I'm glad you found it useful for your business.
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