By Duane Becker
I like going to Starbucks when on the road. Go ahead and think what you want, but I had a very unexpected experience there a while back.
I had placed an order at one of their locations using the mobile app. Simple enough, right? When I arrived at the location that I have been to many, many times I discovered my coffee wasn’t ready yet. The person behind the counter asked my name for the order and said they did not have an order for me. She asked to see a record of the order and when I showed her a record of it on my phone, she pointed out that I had ordered it from the wrong location. There is another Starbucks down the street indoors that I had placed the order through, NOT the location where I had planned to pick it up.
The woman said that this happens a lot and that this will not be a problem, but to just go to the person at the checkout, explain what happened, and they could place an order for my coffee at no charge. Wow, I hadn’t expected that, and I did just that.
This shop happened to be very busy on this particular morning, and because of this, it was taking a little longer than usual for them to get to my order. After about 10 minutes of waiting, someone asked me the order I was waiting for and they got me my coffee quickly. Right about the time this person was handing me my drink, another employee who I am guessing was a manager approached me, apologized that I had waited so long for my order, and handed me a $10 gift card for my inconvenience. This was all due to something that was originally my fault and my error!
This is the kind of excellent service that keeps people as loyal customers. Do you think I will keep supporting this company, and especially this location? Absolutely!
When you are meeting with your prospect, and courting them to become your client, what are you doing to not only provide value but also provide unexpected value?
If you are a kitchen and bath designer, keep in mind that the value item does not necessarily need to be something of monetary value. It could be a service, a welcome package, how you treat them, a gracious gesture, a way of doing business, a referral program.
The important thing is that this is perceived as valuable to your prospect. What you provide them of unexpected value might be different from one person to another. I would suggest you create a selection list of added value items that you can pick from, depending on what would be best for your client. Of course, you may do something completely different for a specific client but it would provide a starting point.
These are the small efforts that not only create loyal clients but also will generate referrals for years to come!
Please comment on what you currently do to provide your clients with unexpected value.
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Tags: #sales, nkba, selling, value