Have you ever said “This place is perfect” after spending some time in a store, restaurant or other business? What made that place “perfect”? Many times, it’s little things.
Sometimes, it’s about the things you might normally forget. Other times, it’s about things you simply don’t expect. Or a lack of the things you’d normally expect. No matter which one creates the perfect experience, seek out these things.
Odors or fragrances?
At times, it’s about cleaning things that will never stay clean. I was walking down a New Orleans sidewalk a few blocks down from Bourbon Street on a recent Saturday morning. Across the narrow cobblestone street from me, a man in a waiter smock was mopping the sidewalk. Not sweeping it, MOPPING it. If you’ve been in any “party zone” area of town on the morning after, you know he was making sure today’s customers wouldn’t smell anything left by revelers who happened to pass by after his restaurant closed.
Strong, unpleasant odors have a way of making a sizable first impression. Mopping the sidewalk was one way to make sure that that morning’s customers didn’t get the wrong first impression as they entered the restaurant. Imagine if you were part of one of the groups entering the restaurant that morning and were accompanied by your best client, or someone who would be – if they said “Yes” at that lunch. Or perhaps you’re meeting someone to pop the question. Suddenly, a simple mopping job on a sidewalk takes on a different level of importance. Mopping the sidewalk has transformed from a chore into something much more important.
When did you last sweep and mop (or at least hose down) the sidewalk in front of your place? What could a “little” change to the experiences of entering your business mean to your customers? Maybe you should ask them. They might surprise you.
Surprising experiences
A couple of weeks ago, I stopped at a highway rest stop in eastern Idaho. A state facility, not a Federal one. Ever seen a spotless highway rest stop? During the summer? On any highway? I have. I was floored. It was perfectly clean and smelled like anything but a highway rest stop, particularly one along a busy highway. Spotless, yet not antiseptic, or smelling of mildew. Shockingly perfect. We’ve all been in heavily used rest stops that were nothing like that one.
Something as mundane as a highway rest stop is still memorable weeks later because someone who takes their job seriously has done more than simply clean the place.
What little improvement or consistently higher-level attention to detail in the mundane work around your place could produce that kind of surprising experience?
Mea culpas everywhere
The reverse of these little things that create perfect experiences often happen when we forget why we’re in business, who we’re serving, and why. You may have seen recent advertisements where Facebook, Uber, and Wells Fargo grovel for your forgiveness. Maybe they’re legitimate, maybe not. The trouble they have to overcome is that many people still aren’t sure if their apologies are real. Likewise, you still aren’t sure they’ve truly learned a lesson from their mistakes.
These are the questions you never want to create in the minds of your customers. It takes a great deal of time and effort to re-earn lost trust. When a woman no longer feels safe doing business with your company, you may never regain her trust. This isn’t solely an Uber issue, but their safety issues make an ideal example. You can create unsafe or uncomfortable situations in almost every business. Even woman-owned businesses have to reconsider situations they may not personally be concerned about, as customers have experienced things that they may not have had to deal with.
Finding what makes yours perfect
By now, you may be wondering what sort of little touches or improvements would make your business perfect. Look back at your customer service logs, complaints and suggestions received. Taking the perspective of a customer, review the ones that seemed petty, tiny, “little and unimportant”, or similar. More often than not, these situations tend to provide clues to finding angles to approaching “perfection”. They may not be the keys themselves, but they’ll often point you in the right direction. The key to creating perfection is wanting to.
Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a strategic, operations or marketing problem? See Mark’s site, contact him on LinkedIn or Twitter, or email him at [email protected].