Saturday, October 17, 2009

Reassurance

I walked into a gym at 4:00 this morning. The guy at the desk said, "You must be dedicated. There are only three other people here."

Dedication doesn't enter into it unless weird sleeping patterns constitute dedication. His comment, however, triggered some thoughts. Those three other people probably picked the gym for the same reason I did: It never closes.

Our firm has used a Fed Ex/Kinko's outlet because of the reassurance that if we need to pick up copies of consulting or training materials at midnight, they're open.

And that may be the operative word: reassurance. Some might emphasize convenience, but I think the deeper attraction is the "I will always be here for you" one. That goes beyond convenience. It is not simply an open door. It is an embrace.

So now I'm thinking more about how to convey that same sort of reassurance to clients. There have been times when I've given out my home telephone number and yet I don't routinely do that. My home number has seldom been used by clients, but that's not the point. They know they have it.

That small gesture may make more of a difference than we realize.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lee Cockerell makes this exact point in his latest book about his tenure as VP at Disney, "Creating Magic." He gave his home number to every employee, even the housekeepers had it. No one dared use it, but it was his availability and support that helped create the unparalleled customer service now in place at WDW.

christopher

Michael Wade said...

Christopher,

That's a great example!

Michael