My cable company sent me yet another piece of mail. About once a week I get an email or a piece of mail from them encouraging me to use the phone service. Yes, the cost is minimal, but I don’t need it, nor do I want it. To be perfectly honest, I’d almost rather not use my cable company at this point, but my apartment is limited in internet and TV options, so I’m stuck with them…
…and their bad service.
I’d almost sign up for a phone service if I had ever been wow’d with any aspect of service. If the installer had arrived on time, or if the store actually greeted me as a real customer and provided a printed receipt with a breakdown of services and all the prices they quoted me in store (that miraculously never exist on my bill), or if the help line wasn’t alway a 15+ minute wait, or if the technical support would go beyond the “have you turned it off and turned it back on” after I say in the first minute “I’ve already turned it off and turned it back on,” or any other myriad of service opportunities.
But they haven’t. Not once.
They’ve left bad systems in place. They provide the bare minimum. They’d never impressed me with service.
So I have zero desire to take on an additional offering from them no matter how many times they bug me, and I ignore them and their junk mail spam.
But then last night, just before I threw it away, it occurred to me–do we do the same?
How many times have we taken a relationship for granted? How many times do we just go through the bare minimum with our own service? Have we ever offered more in a friendship? Have we ever surprised attendees at an event with a WOW moment that went above and beyond what they expected?
We’ve all experienced this in some relationship.
We’ve all experienced this from some organization.
And it’s those relationships and companies that we rave about. They are the ones that we share on social media or over coffee with friends.
So what can you do today?
Is there a relationship where you can add more in a surprising, but welcomed way?
Is there a way you can serve people within your organization just a little bit better?
Here are two examples that might get your mind flowing:
1) A few years ago I was travel for work over my birthday. It’s always tough to be on the road for my birthday, but most years that is the case. My flight home got in really late–just a few minutes before midnight, and yet when I stepped off the plane, my wife was waiting before baggage claim (something that doesn’t happen when you request airport pickups as much as I do) with a large collection of Batman birthday balloons and a tupperware of my favorite cookies. She didn’t have to do this. I knew she had an early morning meeting the next day–but she did. It makes me consider what I can do in those handful of times when I’m the one picking her up from the airport.
2) Just over a week ago, an organization I’m heavily active in sent me a special survey. It was survey monkey or anything like that–just a few simple questions that wanted my reply about the nature of the organization, the current model of service, and a potential shift for the future. It showed me that the group valued me and my input even if the decision may ultimately go in a different way than what I recommended–at least I know I was heard (I received a personal reply addressing some of my comments which let me know they were definitely read).
These are two easy things. We can do more.
Let’s not be the cable company.
We can do more than the bare minimum . Let’s be the better version of us.
