Marketing is as effective as sales. Sales is as effective as customer service. Customer service is as effective as operations. Bottom line – it takes coordination, integration and a lot of work to build a brand and execute on the brand promise. Your efforts are always dependent on someone else doing their part. There also seems to be a ‘special sauce’ – people who get ‘it’.
I often speak to my clients about their employees who ‘get it’; sometimes training can help; other times it is that innate, natural ability to do the right thing – no need to have a written process, procedure, manual or training session.
I love meeting people who get ‘it’. I love experiencing people who get ‘it’. It is refreshing, it is encouraging, it is exhilarating!
Big kudos to DiMillo’s restaurant in Portland Maine. They get “it” – beautiful views from their unique floating restaurant in lovely Casco Bay, great food (best lobster roll I have ever had – little to no mayo – what restaurant puts the number of calories on the menu for the lobster roll? Never seen it anywhere else but DiMillo’s can because it is chock full of lobsta – as we Mainers say it!), free parking to all patrons who get their parking ticket stamped – nice touch, and friendly staff. They have the whole package and that comes from leadership and from people who get ‘it’. Steve DiMillo could have done what many restaurants do when they don’t get ‘it’ – they offer a free dessert to the person celebrating a birthday. Nope – not the case. My mom’s birthday lunch (a lobster roll – not that it matters but people who don’t get ‘it’ may have chosen not to based on the meal ordered) was on the house after he stopped by our table to chat, learned it was my mother’s birthday and graciously engaged us in conversation for several minutes. When the waitress later brought the bill by, she wished my mom Happy Birthday and shared that the lunch was on the house. Nice touch. Nice gesture. Will I forget it? No way. Thanks Steve. You made a special birthday lunch for my Mom even more enjoyable for me the marketer. I work with my clients on all aspects of the customer experience and raising the bar, doing the right thing, going above and beyond and you epitomized what can be an elusive goal for many.
When you get ‘it’, you do the right thing. When you get ‘it’, you experience your business as the customer, not as the owner or head of customer service or sales or marketing. When you get ‘it’, you think long-term and you perform random acts of kindness to surprise your customers, to wow them, to be nice and to treat others as you would want to be treated.
‘It’ is powerful stuff. I love ‘it’.