Last Friday night, my wife and I hosted a great group of friends from our church. Since we moved into our new home just a few months ago, we were eager to have them see the place. Did we care what people thought about the place? YES! Did we do some extra cleaning in preparation? YES! Did we want to leave a good impression? OF COURSE!
When special guests are stopping by, you go all out to make the place look good. Bring out the best dishes. Set the table. Open the door with the warmest of greeting. Treat them like kings and queens!
So, on his recent visit:
if the Pope planned a stop by your place of business (see Seth Godin’s blog)
, how might you have prepared? How would you have treated him? If not the Pope, what about the President? The Mayor? The local journalist doing a review?
As Seth suggest’s, if we act in such a way for “important people” – how about treating “regular customers” in the same way! It’s a lot of work to keep that up day-after-day, but it is also energizing and contagious! (If it’s not to you, then you might consider shutting your doors now).
*Are you coming to either the May 5th or May 10th FREE marketing workshops?
One other thing that I forgot to mention.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing writes:
“Any time that any person in your organization has any
form of contact with your clients or prospects, they are performing a marketing function.”
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2004/08/10/customer-service-is-marketing-too/
So don’t forget that how you treat your long-time client or new customer is indicative of how you value their business! Customer Service IS MARKETING!
Share your experience when you felt like a king or queen in a retail establishment? How did it make you feel? Did you go back? Did you tell others about it? We’d love to hear your GOOD stories!
Great comparison! You never know who the next BIG customer might be.