Business at the Waffle House
Going that extra mile for your customers has many different faces.
At the end of the day, we have to realize that there is always a choice that our customers have; there is a lot of competition - the products and services we sell have to be good; they have to be reliable. But we have to remember, that the secret sauce, what makes the customer choose us - it is when we remember that business is about people, about relationships, about trust. Our customers need to know they can trust us.
When we have a relationship with our customers, when those barriers of skepticism have broken down and we can talk with transparency and trust - thats when things start to happen.
And there are no shortcuts to building a relationship. With little steps, prove that your company, your services are reliable. Be available to your customers and listen to them.
And sometimes its the little things we do; those things that at the time seem almost meaningless. I remember many years ago, we entertained a customer. We had gone to a great dinner at a steakhouse followed by an event and gone out for a few drinks - a great evening. It had been a very late night and we were all driving back to our hotel when the customer saw a Waffle House diner and mentioned offhand that they hadn't been to one of those since they were a little kid. i don't know what made me do it, but I turned off the road and said "well, we will have to solve that right now." We all went in and had us a 2 am breakfast at the Waffle House. Twenty years later, we still talk about that night. Relationships!!
At the end of the day, we have to realize that there is always a choice that our customers have; there is a lot of competition - the products and services we sell have to be good; they have to be reliable. But we have to remember, that the secret sauce, what makes the customer choose us - it is when we remember that business is about people, about relationships, about trust. Our customers need to know they can trust us.
When we have a relationship with our customers, when those barriers of skepticism have broken down and we can talk with transparency and trust - thats when things start to happen.
And there are no shortcuts to building a relationship. With little steps, prove that your company, your services are reliable. Be available to your customers and listen to them.
And sometimes its the little things we do; those things that at the time seem almost meaningless. I remember many years ago, we entertained a customer. We had gone to a great dinner at a steakhouse followed by an event and gone out for a few drinks - a great evening. It had been a very late night and we were all driving back to our hotel when the customer saw a Waffle House diner and mentioned offhand that they hadn't been to one of those since they were a little kid. i don't know what made me do it, but I turned off the road and said "well, we will have to solve that right now." We all went in and had us a 2 am breakfast at the Waffle House. Twenty years later, we still talk about that night. Relationships!!
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