Me: What is the purpose of a customer?
Them: To get the sale.

Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that it’s quite the opposite: the purpose of the sale is to get the customer!

Most people follow a very rudimentary business plan: find a prospect, call the prospect, get the sale, move on to the next one. This sounds curiously like the instructions on the back of the shampoo bottle: wet hair, lather, rinse, repeat.

And it completely ignores one of the most important marketing principles we teach: lifetime value. In fact, when we do the lifetime-value exercise in our live programs, people are frequently shocked by the actual value a single customer, client, or member can bring to their businesses – value well in excess of the initial purchase – sometimes orders of magnitude higher!

So make sure you understand what your customers are worth over your entire expected relationship with them, and do everything you can to maintain a relationship that will let you benefit from this relationship while still delivering outstanding value to them.

We had just arrived at our hotel in the Condado neighborhood after having gotten up very early to catch our flight. We arrived at the airport around 11:00 a.m., picked up our car, and got to the hotel around noon. We were very hungry by then, so we unpacked quickly and asked at the front desk for a good local place we could walk to for lunch.

The front-desk clerk pointed across the street and said that they all went to Cafe del Angel when they wanted to pick up some food. That was good enough for us!

We ordered a couple of bottles of Medalla (the local beer) and a few combination plates. The food was great, and we asked the waiter, Javier, to explain some of the traditional dishes we had on the plate.

He had been working in the restaurant industry for 20 years, and was quick to recommend some of his favorite restaurants in Old San Juan, including some he had worked at personally.

When we got the bill and gave him our credit card, he went to process the payment, and then came back to ask for our ID. Fearing that Citibank, with all good intentions, had frozen the account because of charges made outside the mainland US, we asked if there was a problem.

There wasn’t; he had just forgotten about a new policy the banks in Puerto Rico had just initiated that required an ID with all credit-card transactions. He mentioned a time when he saw another waiter in a different restaurant announce loudly that the guest’s credit card had been declined, causing major embarrassment to the cardholder.

In contrast, he told us that he preferred to lean in and whisper news like that so that only the cardholder could hear the bad news.

We chatted a bit more with Javier about things to do and places to see. He was a wealth of knowledge, and an absolute delight to talk to.

Needless to say, he got a very good tip.

In most businesses and interactions, it’s the little things that make a difference, and that people remember. A shuttle driver who’s upbeat and pleasant. A customer-service representative who really seems to care about your problem. A waiter who shares his knowledge of the area with enthusiasm.

Does your team pay attention to the little things?

We recently completed a project in our house: we converted our dining room into a “wine room.” Since many of you know that we enjoy wine, this probably doesn’t come as a big shock to you. What we had to go through to successfully complete the project might surprise you though.

Here is a quick summary of just some of the problems we encountered during the process:

1. We were supposed to be called by the delivery person bringing a coffee table and serving unit 30 minutes in advance so we could leave our office and meet him at the house. We got a call from the guy who said he had been waiting at the house for five minutes and wanted to know where we were.

2. The company we bought our wine-storage unit from entered the wrong e-mail address in the order so we didn’t get the message with the tracking number. They also entered our phone number incorrectly so the delivery person wasn’t able to call us to schedule the delivery. We only found out any of this because we finally called to get the tracking number. No link mind you, just a tracking number and the name of an obscure shipping company which we had to track down ourselves.

3. We couldn’t get a salesperson to tell us if a particular bistro table we were looking at was in stock, and, if it was, when we might expect it to be delivered.

Ultimately, we did get everything straightened out (except for the bistro table which we ended up buying elsewhere) and the room looks great.

But it might come as a surprise to you that sales impediments like these might be occurring in your own organization. Now may be just the right time to “mystery shop” yourself. Visit your web site and try to place an order. Call your main number and see what happens when you have questions. Call with a concern about a product or service you’ve purchased and find out how cleanly the situation is resolved.

Too many people blame their difficulties on ineffective marketing, when many times, it’s actually bad service that’s causing the problem.

So last night, when I was finished with the program, I decided to treat myself to a nice dinner, figuring that it would be a great experience. And since I had to be on a 4:30 a.m. shuttle to the airport, I really wasn’t up for a late night with a lot of people.

I made a reservation at the Charles Court restaurant for 6:00 p.m. and was seated at a nice table with a view of the lake. The waitress came to the table, greeted me by name and described the evening’s specials, including a grouper dish that sounded great. As it turns, out, I really like grouper – when it’s cooked right, it just kind of flakes apart when you take a fork to it.

Well, that one had my name on it, so that’s what I ordered. And when the dish came out, it looked great. Unfortunately, there was a problem: the grouper was tough and chewy: it had been overcooked.

So when the waitress stopped by to make sure everything was fine, I mentioned this to her. Without missing a beat, she apologized, and offered to bring me something else or have the chef prepare another order of grouper. I asked her to bring the menu so I could take a look, and decided on something else.

When she came back, she apologized again, and told me that she had spoken to the chef and he agreed – it had been overcooked. She was actually a bit worked up about this herself, since she had just recommended it – and placed six orders for the grouper for another table she was working.

That would have been enough, but the restaurant manager came over to apologize himself, confirmed that, or course there would be no charge for the grouper, and all but insisted I have dessert on the house.

Even at a first-class hotel like this, there will be occasional missteps – because of the sheer size of the place it’s unavoidable. And it’s probably the same at your company. Problems are going to happen.

But if you address them quickly and definitively, you can build a level of customer loyalty even greater than if nothing had gone wrong in the first place. Make sure you have “service recovery” procedures in place to handle these situations when they occur.

The wines we tasted were okay, not great, but the highlight was the tour of the restaurant’s 30,000-bottle wine cellar. To get to the cellar, you had to walk right through the main kitchen, and pass by the teaching kitchen where Iron Chef winner Walter Royal was giving a demonstration.

The interesting thing was that everyone we passed in the kitchen and in the back hallways – from the chefs to the waitresses to the dishwashers, stopped as we walked by, smiled, and greeted us. “Hi!” “How are you today?” “Thanks for coming in!”

Clearly, they had been trained to do this, but it wasn’t just one or two people – it was every single employee we passed!

Creating that kind of culture – and seeing it play out in “real life” means that everything else about the place is going to be done right. That’s why they’ve been around for 40 years, and why it’s the local institution it is.

Do you have similar processes in place in your company? Do your employees – even the ones who don’t have regular customer interaction – know what’s expected of them and how their work ultimately does impact the customer?

Figure out how to make that happen in your organization and you’ll have a good reason to celebrate the new year!

Because of my frequent flyer status on American Airlines, I frequently get to upgrade to first class. I’ll admit that this makes air travel significantly more comfortable.  But if you have images of caviar, linen tablecloths, and crystal salt and pepper shakers, let me assure you that this kind of domestic first-class travel hasn’t been the case for some time.

Tough economic times, September 11th, and the general state of the airline industry have reduced the benefits of first-class on all but the longest flights to a comfortable seat, an occasional meal, and a free drink.

But every so often, a really good flight attendant can make the experience special.  On flights where a meal or snack is served, the flight attendant will ask each first-class passenger his or her meal preference.  Using a sheet prepared with each of their names, the flight attendant will normally ask, “Mr. Smith?  Would you prefer the chicken or the fish?” and proceed to dutifully write down each passenger’s selection, hoping that the selection of choices doesn’t run out.

But on one recent flight, it happened in a slightly different way.  The flight attendant made her way down the aisle without a tray, paper, or pen, and said, “Mr. Koslowski, welcome aboard!  Would you prefer the chicken or the fish?  Fish?  Wonderful.  Thank You.  Mr. Jackson?  Fish or chicken for you this evening?  Chicken? Great!”

And with great interest, I watched her as she did this with each of the 22 first-class passengers in our 757 aircraft, calling each passenger by name and making no notation whatsoever of the passengers’ orders.

Throughout the flight, she continued to call each passenger by name, and remembered what each person was drinking when she asked if they would like a refill.

Besides making us all feel very special, this extraordinary effort had an additional benefit for the flight attendant.  American Airlines sends its frequent fliers SOS (Some One Special) coupons that they can use to recognize employees who provide outstanding service.  These are particularly valuable to the employees; the last time I checked, they can get a confirmed first-class flight to Europe with just 14 of these!

I give out these SOS coupons regularly to flight attendants, pilots, and ticket, gate, and reservations agents who go out of their way to be helpful.  So it was with a smile on my face as we were departing the flight that I watched as three other passengers handed the flight attendant SOS coupons before I had the opportunity to add my own to the stack.

If you figure that the flight attendant probably works three flights a day, you can see how these coupons can add up very quickly.  Does the flight attendant make the effort because of the tickets, or is she just conscientious and the coupons are an extra bonus?

I’m not sure, but it doesn’t really matter – the passengers feel special, and an excellent employee is rewarded for her effort.

Look at your own reward and recognition systems and see if they are eliciting and rewarding the behaviors you want to see.  Then all of your customers will feel like they’re receiving first-class service.

Several years ago, as my business and client base had expanded, I found myself in Ottawa, the national capital of Canada.  It is a great city to visit and has a lot to offer a traveler.

When I travel to Ottawa, I usually stay at the Westin hotel in the Rideau Center, adjacent to the Byward Market section of town. During this stretch of business, I stayed there quite frequently.  As a result, the staff came to recognize me when I checked in and visited the restaurant for breakfast.

While this was impressive in and of itself, what was truly remarkable was what happened six months later when I had the opportunity to visit Ottawa again.

As I approached the front desk, the front-desk clerk greeted me with a big smile and said, “Mr. Rosenberg!  We haven’t seen you for a few months; welcome back to the Westin!

Wow!  If you think that made me feel special, what happened the next morning surpassed even that.  As I entered the restaurant to get my free continental breakfast, Leonard, the restaurant manager, gave me a similar enthusiastic greeting.  ”Mr. Rosenberg!  Good to see you again!  Would you like the usual fresh-squeezed orange juice and a toasted bagel?”

I was speechless.  And those of you who know me will appreciate that this is not a common occurrence.  Not only did Leonard remember my name after six months, but he actually remembered what I ate for breakfast – right down to the flavor of the jam.

I have returned to Ottawa on business many times since then, and there should be absolutely no doubt in your mind where I stay when I go there.  The effort they took to know their customers has created a level of loyalty in me where I don’t think twice about where to stay.

Whether it is remembering your customers’ names, going the extra mile, or simply following up after an order, successful businesses are built on extraordinary customer service and strong customer relationships.

It’s important to remember that sometimes even the littlest details can make a big impression.

My cell phone is a both a blessing and a curse.  It’s a blessing because I travel extensively and it allows me to keep in touch with my office, my clients, and my family.  It’s a curse, because inconsistent service, incorrect information, and regular billing errors have caused me to spend about each month on the phone with their customer service department.

Those of you who have attended my programs know which company I use, although I have heard very similar stories from customers of virtually every carrier.

Last month, I was trying to correct a $600 overcharge on my bill.  It was fairly late, maybe 10:30 pm when I tried to contact a customer service representative.  Fed up with spending ten minutes trying to navigate their “automated assistant,” I hit a random sequence of keys to confuse the system and get routed to an actual person.  In a few seconds, I was on the phone with a customer service representative.

But not just any person, I got “Dave,” who was by far the most competent employee of this particular company I had ever spoken with.

He corrected the problem with the bill and explained why the problem had happened.  He told me about an issue they were having that made it impossible to accurately post my usage to the web site so that I could manage my minutes.  He made a note to follow up with me in a few weeks to make sure everything was working correctly.

Oh yeah, he also recommended a different plan that offered me more minutes at a lower cost than I was paying.  I thought I had died and gone to “Customer Service Heaven,” which anyone who knows me will tell you is high praise indeed!

I asked Dave how I was lucky enough to have him as my customer service representative and his answer was quite interesting.  ”I don’t work in Customer Service,” he explained, “I work in the Cancellation Department.  When people decide to cancel their service, they are sent to me and I do whatever is necessary to keep them with us.”

Now clearly, they had the right person in that job, but I couldn’t help but think that if they had competent people like this answering the phones in the first place, they wouldn’t even need a Cancellation Department!

Study after study has shown that it is more costly to get a new customer than it is to keep the customer you already have.  Keep this in mind and be certain that you give the best possible service you can when it really counts – at the moment the problem arises.

Many organizations, when faced with a difficult customer situation may succumb to the tendency to “just let this one go,” allowing the customer to leave rather than make an exception to a rigid policy to accommodate the particular situation.

But this kind of shortsighted approach can have long-term implications on the sustainable viability of the company.  For example, a single bad experience with an airline, compounded by their unwillingness to correct the situation, could very easily convince me to avoid traveling with that airline in the future.

Of course, this would be a bad move on the airline’s part, since I am a frequent flyer.  A very frequent flyer. At the time of this writing, I’ve earned over three million total miles in the American Airlines’ Advantage program.

Do the math with me based on the following very conservative assumptions:

My average ticket costs $500

I fly twice a month

I work ten months out of the year

I will travel at this level for 20 years

This makes my lifetime value to an airline $500 x 2 x 10 x 20, or $200,000!  And, as I said, this is a very conservative estimate.  Over a twenty-year period, I’ll almost certainly spend at least twice that amount, and probably more.

The point is that when you are determining the value of the customer – whether in a difficult situation or simply for planning purposes – you must look not only at the value of the current transaction, but also at the long-term cumulative value of that relationship.

Keep this in mind as you look at your customer service policies, or in the future you might find your business grounded!

Pizza could be classified as one of these.  Large pizza chains use a variety of advertising and marketing campaigns to distinguish themselves from the pack.  Dominoes had a guaranteed delivery time.  Little Caesar’s offered two pizzas for the price of one.  Papa John’s claims that better ingredients make a better pizza.

Does this kind of branding help sell more pizzas?  It’s kind of hard to answer that question definitively since there are many other factors that affect gross sales.

A client of ours told us about a small pizza shop in Holidaysburg, PA, that has a unique approach that has shown measurable success.

Once a week they show up at my client’s building at lunchtime with ten pizzas.  Nobody ordered these pizzas; they just bring them.  When word gets out throughout the building that there are pizzas for sale in the lobby, they are all sold.  All ten pizzas.  Every week.

I don’t know this for fact, but I would bet money that they do this on different days for different offices in the area.

They demonstrate extremely well that you can’t just wait for business to come to you, sometimes you have to go out and stir things up a bit.  Their creative method for creating demand – bringing hot fresh pizzas into a building of hungry employees at lunchtime – yields measurable results, week after week.

Look at your own organization.  Are there ways you could be creating demand for your products or services by making them more available to potential customers?