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Often, it’s the little things that give you a chance to distinguish yourself. Own a restaurant, it’s likely your cooking is in the same range of quality as the other kids with whom you went to Johnson & Wales. But in the little touches, the things your competitors do in a generic manner because “that’s the way everybody does it”: That’s where opportunity often lies.
Our local Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant is excellent. They try hard in the areas that are hard: freshness of ingredients, promptness in service… And yet, what are the little–and, in fact, easy to achieve–touches that could set them apart?
Well, how about re-imagining their fortune cookies? If they want to be different, why serve the same tasteless hardtack in the same impossible-to-open-without-breakage plastic wrappers? How about chocolate fortune cookies, with branded fortunes inside, redeemable for a free appetizer on the next visit? Think what a memorable end to a visit that would be — it would be a way to thank you for your business, invite you to come back and remind you where to come back, all in a compact, delicious package.
Having said this, I still want to share what has to be the best fortune cookie fortune ever. Even though, contradicting my point, it was served to me inside a tasteless cookie, wrapped in an impossible-to-open-without-breakage plastic wrapper. Here’s wishing you the same “good enough” day that I am apparently destined to have.–Micah
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“Micah Solomon conveys an up-to-the minute and deeply practical take on customer service, business success, and the twin importance of people and technology.” –Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder
Micah Solomon • Author-Speaker-Strategist • Customer Service – Marketing – Loyalty – Leadership
See Micah in action — including video and free resources — at https://micahsolomon.com. Or, click here for your own free chapter of Micah’s new book, High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service (AMACOM Books) and Micah’s #1 bestseller, Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit: The Secrets of Building a Five-Star Customer Service Organization
My blood sugar was dipping low and your headline caught my attention. But you’re right, the opportunity lies where we can find a way to distinguish ourselves. Although there’s a tendency to evaluate a product or establishment based on their service, it seems unfair to leave all the “firefighting” to the customer service reps. Many times the signals from the customers are already there and we just have to turn them into insights and act upon them as needed. Just like any sales/marketing cycle, the journey doesn’t after they walk in. You want to make it a good experience and encourage them to come back, over and over again – see here: https://ow.ly/bnVjo Everyone keeps talking about virality and word-of-mouth…let’s give them something to talk about!
Guy Nirpaz
Founder of Totango.com