It’s the Little Things…

It’s so easy to make a huge difference in the eyes of your customers. From the CEO of a large corporation to a minimum wage store cashier, any employee can impress customers enough to make a lasting impression.

Sometimes, the most insignificant gestures can leave a huge impact on a customer.

This week, I’d like to go off on a tangent and share two quick stories. They’re not entirely Internet-related, but they left an impact on me and I thought you’d appreciate them.

1. One morning last week, my wife and I went in to our local Quick Check store for coffee, as we do fairly often. After preparing our cups-o’-joe, we proceeded to the front of the store to pay. The line was unusually long that day…and we were in a hurry.

When we finally made it to the front, the cashier apologized for the long delay. “Since you had to wait so long,” he said, “I’ll give you a discount on your coffee.”

Between the two of us, we probably saved a whopping 40 cents. But somehow, we were so impressed by this small gesture. The cashier was not a store manager, but he had the authority to make sure we left the store happy, and with a positive attitude toward Quick Check. And it worked!

2. While watching “House” with my wife the other night, we were really impressed by a commercial we saw from Sprint.

In it, Sprint’s new CEO, Dan Hesse, was promoting the company’s new “Simply Everything” plan, in which subscribers receive unlimited talking, texting, Internet, email, etc. for $99 per month.

The commercial was nothing special…until the very end. The screen went black, and the email address “dan@sprint.com” flashed on the screen.

To me, this is an incredible change in direction for television advertising. Dan wasn’t just selling to us, he wants to talk with us. Love Sprint? Let Dan know. Hate ‘em? Dan wants to hear about it. Did Dan have a piece of broccoli stuck in his teeth on camera? Tell him yourself.

Don’t contact Sprint by filling out a “contact us” form on their web site. Don’t call a customer service center in India. Email the CEO directly.

Wow. By simply flashing an email address at the end of a TV commercial, Sprint impressed me - big time. Don’t you wish every company was interested in starting the same type of dialogue with its customers?

(By the way, if you want to reach me personally, it’s josh@gostampless.com.)

You can watch the Sprint ad here.

From a lowly cashier to the millionaire CEO, the smallest little “extras” can leave a great big impression on a customer, no matter how insignificant they may seem to you.

Here’s one you can implement right now: respond to your email inquiries immediately.

You have a unique opportunity to delight your customers with a prompt, professional response to their email inquiries. After all, if you sent an e-mail to a large company and received a response within two hours, wouldn’t YOU be impressed?

They say “you never get a second chance to make a first impression.” It doesn’t take much to make that impression last. Keep your customers for life. Try to look for more of these kinds of opportunities every day.

Tags: customer service, email marketing, home building, real estate