- February 26, 2018 -
Who doesn't love a good story?
I've always been a fan of John Grisham's books. Suspense. Intrigue. Legal thrillers.
He just tells a damn good story.
I'm certainly not John Grisham by a long shot - but it's no surprise that I tend to gravitate to telling stories in our emails.
Stories that teach a business or marketing lesson.
Why?
Mostly because I think there's plenty of article-based content already available on the Internet to satisfy anyone willing to search.
And because I never get tired of hearing a good success story.
Take the Ritz Carlton, for example.
They go the extra mile for their customers.
I don't mean generic stuff like knowing whether you like feather or foam pillows...
Or if you'd rather a piece of chocolate or an apple on your pillow...
I'm talking about customer service to the extreme!
Here's just one example of pure brilliancy...
One of the policies at the Ritz Carlton is to allow every single employee to spend up to $2000 on any single customer to make sure that customer is happy.
...without getting permission from management.
If you've never read Robert Cialdini’s famous book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, add it to your list today and read it from cover to cover.
And then read it again.
Especially the chapter on the rule of reciprocity...how people naturally often feel obligated to return a favor even if they aren't asked to.
Ritz Carlton wants more than anything for their customers to return and will go to extremes to do small and large favors to keep their customers coming back.
From something simple like a receptionist noticing that a guest is scheduled to leave super early and asking if they'd like a pot of fresh coffee delivered to their door early...
To something as elaborate as creating a storybook for a young guest whose stuffed animal was found by a server in one of the restaurants and remembered who it belonged to.
The staff grabbed a camera and had fun snapping photos of the stuffed animal cooking in the kitchen, playing the piano in the restaurant, enjoying dessert...and then delivered the stuffed animal and the storybook of the prints at the guests door at 9am the next morning.
The best part was watching the boy's expressions when finding his lost buddy.
And the mother's response? “The Ritz-Carlton always goes that extra mile. This is exactly why my family will only travel to your hotels.”
Isn't this exactly what our priority should be with our customers?
Every business I've built has been successful more because of repeat buyers and referred leads...not cold leads.
I'm not saying to ignore fresh prospects. Gotta keep the top of the pipeline filled.
Just saying that if you're leaving money on the table because you aren't wowing your current customers...that's your low hanging fruit right there.
And then go the extra mile...train your staff to come up with creative ways to make raving fans of your customers.
Takes time, work and trust on your part. But the rewards will be in spades.
To give you some ideas that doesn't require a Ritz Carlton size budget, request a copy of our 50 Cost Effective Ways to Wow Your Customers cheat sheet.
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Have a terrific Monday!
Talk tomorrow,
