adminZachary Aldwin Milkshake in the Boardroom
Wonderful! It exists after all! I could fill this article with superlatives if I am to describe a recent shopping experience.
I am padding around in my new Actos skin shoes (they are a minimalist footwear that basically resembles a latex sock with a thin sole), they are comfortable, funky and trendy.
The best part though was the incredible service experience I had obtaining them. I found an advert in a fitness magazine, looked up the website and contacted the South African company that distributes them (getting them into Zimbabwe would entail a little more than standard shipping arrangements).
From the outset there was a swift response to my query. The real crunch for me came when I emailed a proof of payment to them.
It was 8pm and I had just got in from a long social day and was tidying up a few personal odds and ends before bedtime.
Sending the email, I expected a reply the next morning when business hours resumed.
No such luck. Rather I had a reply 10 minutes later! That was a dedication to service.
The supplier would have been well within their rights to deal with it in the morning but they made a choice to deal with it there and then.
That little instance has made me a fan for life. I have called what I have experienced with my shoes ‘‘Brand Crush’’ by Seth Godin.
It is the interaction of the magic of the brand and generosity. The magic is the excitement of a new experience with a product or service, in this case the concept of skin shoes; the epic feeling of walking around almost barefoot. The generosity is the giving aspect, for me the sacrifice of Kathy on the other end of an email late at night to deal with my order.
I am sold and hooked, I never want to wear another shoe (well not quite). I remember the first time I saw a colour television.
It was a bulky number that my grandmother had splashed out on. We gathered at the house the weekend it arrived, a bunch of excited kids and adults.
It was carefully unpacked, studied, assembled. We waited as it performed the channel search.
Then as the screen exploded into colour we were wowed and amazed. Comments about clarity were bandied about the room.
We were in love with the magic, with the experience. A few months later we took it for granted.
It took flat screens, LCDs and retinal displays to recreate a new level of magic for the television.
The magic part will fade a little over time as I get used to the experience of wearing the new shoes.
The generosity has the capacity to keep me there. Generosity can manifest itself in many ways.
At a very basic level by giving something away for free. Facebook gave itself away to users.
Now those users are getting a little annoyed by the inevitable commercialisation that has come with the need to please shareholders in a public listing.
Generosity wins every time you give a service that is above and beyond the perceived value you are paying.
It is not always free, the shoes cost me money but the service I received was priceless.
Amazon thrives on generosity they can supply e-books cheaper than print, even much cheaper in some cases. The annoying part comes when they are forced by an author to sell the e-book at a price that does not offer the usual discount.
The words ‘‘this price has been set by the author/publisher’’ invoke an immediate unpleasant feeling in your gut, a dislike and labelling of the publisher as stingy.
Now you can try plan generosity. You can plan the ‘‘Plus One’’ in the same way that a hotel will plan to add a chocolate to the pillow of your bed to make you feel welcome.
But I am not sure if that is being really generous. Taking generosity and making it to something calculated and clinical removes the real essence of it.
I’m pretty sure that when Kathy replied to my email late at night she wasn’t thinking ‘‘if I reply to this now he will become a repeat customer and maybe write an article about it’.’
No, more than likely it just flowed naturally out of her because of her dedication to client service.
The reason for an act of generosity has to come from a genuine desire to benefit someone else.
You can reach a point where it becomes part of your standard routine, the follow-up sales phone call for example.
But your staff needs to know that making that call is because of the greater good of the client and their happiness.
Zachians, your mission this week is go ahead and do something generous for a client.
Something you have not done before at your business. Something that gives. Let me know how it goes.
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