We stop by a local store on Friday evening to buy few cases of Soft Drinks / Juices, for our office party. At the counter we hand the clerk an American Express Card. Amex must be busy in Phoenix or something, because it takes the clerk three to four minutes on the phone to get the credit approval. Finally he does get it, and hands the card back, and then he picks Rs.5 mint from an old fashioned candy jar on the counter and drops it in the bag with an accompanying “ Sorry For the Delay “. It was in excusable. Hope it doesn’t happen again. You know we value your business. Come back and see us again soon. And oh, have a nice party.” He’s just bought loyalty for life! We will shop with more determination than before at the “ nickel –candy-man store.” It wasn’t the clerks fault the American Express lines were busy. It was American Express lines were busy. It was American Express’s failing ( too few phone lines at peak hour). But the clerk took it on as his problem, not theirs. He didn’t say, “ Those SOB’s at American Express always do this to me at rush hour.” Instead he said, “ I am sorry for the Delay .” Oh, we won’t drive twenty miles out of our way to buy a single bottle of Juice at Bandra, but, at that margin, we will go out of our way a little and pay a little more for that courtesy.

 

Excellence is a game of inches, or millimeters. No one act is per se clinching. But a thousand things, a thousand thousand things, each done a tiny bit better, do add up to memorable responsiveness and distinction – and loyalty ( repeat business ) and slightly higher margins.

 

Common Courtesy :- One thing to Do

 

Commit yourself to performing one ten-minute act of exceptional customer courtesy per day, and to inducing your colleagues to do the same. In a 100 person outfit, taking in account normal vacations, holidays, etc., that would mean 24,000 new courteous acts per year. Such is the stuff of Revolutions.