Do You Go the Extra Mile?

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?