During the recent London NPS Conference, a number of companies reported creative methods of delivering “Wow!” experiences to customers in an economically responsible fashion.
David Speakman of Travel Counsellors, for instance, described the “Golden Habits” that his most effective agents employ—inexpensive but thoughtful acts of kindness such as thank-you notes and welcome-home phone calls. By building these frugal wows into its IT systems, the company makes it easy for all of its counsellors to remember and implement the practices. Where a typical travel agent touches a customer several times each year, the Golden Habits help Travel Counsellors’ agents touch their customers far more frequently, and in ways that bring delight.
Rackspace does some similar things. One Racker described the company’s practice of sending a mini-Racker T-shirt to customers who are welcoming a new baby into the family. Another Racker said that, when a customer is pulling an all-nighter, someone from Rackspace will call a local restaurant and have a pizza delivered, so that the night is a little less arduous.
Listening to these creative ideas for wowing customers, I got to thinking about my daughter Jenny’s recent experience when she moved to a new city. We had long been loyal Lexus customers, and I advised her to stop into the local Lexus dealer whenever she had problems with her car. It turned out that the first problem she faced was the transfer of license plates. One of the screws that our own Lexus dealer had used to attach the old Massachusetts plate would not budge.
The new dealer told her that fixing it would be no problem, but that the cost would be $200. Jenny gave me a call because she was astonished—think negative wow—by the price. I agreed that it seemed outrageous, and advised her to grab her new plates and get out of there. She then drove to the corner garage that her new roommate had recommended. When the mechanic saw the situation, he assured her that there was a simple fix. He drilled out the old screw and had the new plates installed in a matter of minutes. When she offered to pay him, he refused to accept any money. He told her that he just wanted to welcome her to the neighborhood.
She was so pleasantly surprised that she has told this story dozens of times to friends and neighbors. And you can imagine how much of her business—and how much of her friends’ and neighbors’ business—will be going to that garage compared to the Lexus dealership. In fact, after buying six Lexus autos in a row over the past decade, we recently defected to Audi. That distant bad experience may have been the last straw for us.
Anyway, back to my daughter. By investing just a few moments with her, that mechanic created a memorable and welcoming wow experience. And he built the foundation for a long and profitable relationship.
The question that I hope more business leaders will be pondering is this: How can we ensure that front-line employees are constantly looking for innovative ways to wow customers without spending too much money? When they do that, it energizes a company’s growth. Frugal wows are not only highly profitable, they are also inspirational, for customers and employees alike.
