Seven Practical Ways to Go the Extra Mile
Elevate your offering beyond a commodity level. Going the extra mile is a differentiator which creates loyalty with your customers. Learn how to apply pragmatic steps in your own business.
Extra Mile Thinking
Many businesses look the same to the customer. Customers expect great service and a quality product. In an economy with too many choices, people go out of their way for that differentiating benefit or experience. They do not want their mere need met, but they want their desire met. They want to do business with people and companies that go the extra mile.
7 Extra Mile Ideas
Incorporate these ideas into your customer engagement to show that you go the extra mile and to move beyond a commodity in their mind:
- Have a Method. Who wants to do business with a business that is random? When you show up at an establishment, you want to know if you should sign in or wait in line; be greeted or sit down. Think through the detailed steps of every
touch-point the customer has with you to make it predictable for you and comfortable for them. - Create a Communication Process. When does your customer receive communications from you? Do they only hear from you when you want an order or when the order is finished? Is the number of times you touch the customer frequent enough when they buy something from you? Think it through from their side.
- Give Something Unexpected. Surprise your customer with more than they paid for or even before they paid. Pick tangible, meaningful and relevant gifts or services.
- Connect Your Customers. What do your customers truly care about? Growing their business or bettering their life? Connect them with the other assets of your business – the customers and colleagues you know that can help and benefit from them. Make it special and be known for being a connector of valuable people.
- Show Gratitude. It is the greatest of all virtues, and you won’t get very far in business or life without it. We do not like feeling ingratitude from others. Be creative in how you express it to your customer. Make it substantive and meaningful.
- Be Responsive. We all despise lines and waiting. Compete on speed and how fast you connect with your customer’s questions, or your competitor may do it for you.
- Give Advice. Why does your customer buy what you have to offer? It is not an end in itself but a means. Keep sending advice on ways to help the customer connect what you offer to what they are truly trying to get accomplished. If you are not focused on the latter, then you do not know your business or your customer.
Your Next Customer Is Not Being Told
Most businesses miss the opportunity under their nose. They look past their customer rather than at their customer. Your current customer has your future customers. They just are not telling you.
Nothing Memorable
What is a referral? It is trust. When you give a referral, you feel that you are risking something, namely your reputation. Your customer feels the same way. So why would they risk telling anyone about your business if there was nothing memorable. Here are three reasons your customers do not bring you more business:
- You merely TRANSACTED. There was not an experience. You exchanged money for goods or services. There is nothing to talk about. “Yes, they can show you a car to buy.” Or “They get your clothes clean with their dry cleaning.” Customer service is expected. It is not something to tell others about.
- You did not CONNECT. People want to feel an experience, not consume a commodity. When you show at a restaurant, have you ever been greeted by your name? It is completely different than being given a buzzer and told to sit in a corner or being ignored. You want the owner to come out and check in on your life and family. How do you connect in the flow of the customer’s experience? Is it orchestrated?
- You do not POSITION. Whatever you do, you are a commodity. You play a script that the customer has seen and they know the routine. Do you elevate how you are perceived? Do you use the customer experience as an orchestrated method for raising that perception? If not, you are seen as the stereotype, not the remarkable type they are craving.
Making Memories
You are a consumer and you have 
forgotten a myriad of advertisements. You have not told your friends about a lot of businesses with good service that you have used. You resist buying when you feel you are being sold. You are a consumer and do what your customers do. To win in the new economy, you must deliver the following:
- Something REMARKable. Give people something to remark about.
- A world-class SHOW. Is how you do business as a process giving your customer or an experience? What is the flow, the show, the props, the script?
- CARE. Does your customer feel your business method is personal to them?
- SYSTEMS. Does your customer experience have a framework that is consistent? Or is it different for every new customer. Make it repeatable and systematic.
How you do business is the best selling tool for your future business. Your customers have more customers. If they are not telling you who they are, examine your business.