This question was posed by Lee Silverstein in a blog post.
In his words,
“You know it when you experience it, but sometimes it’s difficult to verbalize. I like to explain the difference as ‘great’ service is the type of service that you would tell others about.”
He explains further,
“You could walk into a store and be cheerfully greeted, but it’s unlikely that over dinner that evening you would tell your family about the friendly greeting you received while shopping earlier in the day. Now if that same associate had offered to gift-wrap your purchase and then carried it out to your car for you, then that would be an experience worth sharing.”
Jay Baer echoed a similar sentiment in the Foreword for Pink Goldfish 2.0:
“We don’t make a point of telling our friends about that time we got exactly what we expected. This is why there are so few 3-star reviews:
‘Paid for a sandwich. Got a sandwich. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ‘
If there is no story to tell, we simply don’t tell it… To turn your current customers into volunteer marketers on your behalf, you need more than competency: you need something different, distinct, and memorable. If you want more stories told about you, you need to be worthy of a story.”
One of the ways of standing out is by adding value. I call this type of Purple Goldfish “Added Service.” Lee shared his experience in the Purple Goldfish Project:
“While driving the other day, a pebble hit my windshield, leaving a small crack. I contacted Progressive Insurance and they offered to book an appointment for me to have the windshield replaced the following morning; I was very impressed. As promised, my phone rang shortly after 8 am. It was Rich from Safelite AutoGlass telling me he was on his way to my home to replace my windshield. After only 45 minutes he called me and asked me to meet him outside; he was finished and needed my signature. I walked outside to find him cleaning not just my windshield, but all of my windows! Not only that, but he informed me that he vacuumed the interior of my car as well. By investing 10 extra minutes to vacuum my car and clean my windows, Rich took a good experience and made it a great one. And what did this cost Safelite? Ten minutes of an employee’s time; a good investment.”
“Added Service” embodies the idea that a little extra attention and service can exceed the expectations of your customers.
Lee concludes, “By taking care of all the worries that surround a window replacement on a vehicle, Safelite is one giant leap ahead of their competition.”
So, how are you taking the additional story-worthy steps of added service that make a big difference?