Four friends and I were recently enjoying lunch at a Sweet Tomatoes restaurant in the Tampa, FL area when a woman approached our table. She worked for the restaurant and was bussing the tables. With a big smile on her face, she asked us, “Are you folks enjoying yourselves today?”
“We sure are!” came the enthusiastic and unanimous reply.
“Well, I’m here to put a stop to that!” she said with a big grin. We all burst into laughter… and a small, but fun, bond was formed! She began a conversation with us that pretty quickly led to her asking if we were part of the “Sweet Tomatoes” family and were receiving e-mails from the company about specials, coupons and other offers. One of us was; the other four were not.
Long story short: While none of us were sure we needed more e-mails from anyone, all four of us signed up to receive them, in order to help this fun lady!
What a win-win! Even though we were unsure about the e-mails, there’s a good chance something will capture our attention and cause us to re-visit the restaurant (we loved the food and our experience had been VERY positive!) The company also knows they can greatly increase the chances of us visiting again if they keep in touch from time to time, keeping their restaurant “top of mind.”
We can all use our sense of humor to create a bond with customers, and take small, consistent steps like this one toward creating great experiences for them. We should aso encourage all our co-workers to create the same kinds of experiences (each in their own unique way) because all employees contribute to the customer experience. Help them remember that even though the old song says, “One bad apple don’t spoil the whole bunch,” – if that’s the only “apple” the customer interacts with, their whole experience is spoiled!
Even though you’re not going to win a $3million contract with a joke and a smile, sharing many small fun (WOW!) experiences with potential customers creates a bond that helps you get – and keep – your foot in the door so they’ll more readily listen to what you have to say and give you a better chance at getting that $3million contract than if you’d never bonded with them at all…
Just a little bit of humor and kindness spread about not only helps you feel better but many times helps people who, at that moment, need some badly.