With a newborn baby in the house, sleep is at a premium. So while I’ve actually written three posts since Monday, I haven’t published one of them.

Why?

Because I couldn’t deliver anything that stood a chance of at least meeting your expectations. So I chose not to post anything.

And that felt great.

I realize that everything we deliver won’t be a hit. But when we finish a project on time and it isn’t good enough yet, we have a choice to make:

1. Disappoint your customer, or
2. Push back the delivery date.

The next time you have something that isn’t good enough (yet), remember that one choice feels a lot better than the other.

Still, there was one moment of slight discomfort at dinner (Mom, read the entire post before you pick up the phone) – sharing what we were thankful for in our lives. My list was usually unoriginal. I was thankful for my health, my family, and parents who were forgiving and patient with me (I didn’t make that easy). I was desperate for material. Why? I had it good, didn’t realize it, and sounded insincere as a result.

I may have been bad, but when it comes to thanking customers, companies are much worse. Terrible, actually. Need examples of corporate insincerity? How about a holiday newsletter that talks about…the company. Or generic, bulk email sent with Constant Contact. The list goes on and on.

How do you show customer appreciation?

If your efforts might be seen as insincere, stop what you’re doing. The core objective is to tell your customers how much you care about and appreciate them – if you can’t do that, don’t bother.

To help point you in the right direction, take a tip from GoDaddy.

GoDaddy is my hosting provider. I’ve been with them for a year, and never had the need to interact with them. So when they called the other day, I assumed that they wanted to sell me something. I was wrong.

GoDaddy: Ed, this is Jeffrey from GoDaddy. This is just a courtesy call – I wanted to see how things are going with your account and answer any questions you might have. Do you have a few minutes to talk?

Courtesy call? Right. He wants to pitch me on something. OK, I’ll bite and see where it goes.

Me: Sure. Go ahead.

GoDaddy: Great. I noticed that you have several hosting accounts. Are some of these client sites, or does each one belong to you?

I explained that they were my sites, and gave him a brief overview of my goals with each one.

GoDaddy: Those sound like interesting projects (his tone was genuine). You know, since you own each website, there is a way to save money on your hosting.

Here it comes: the sales pitch.

GoDaddy: What you can do is consolidate these websites under one account.

Huh? That would save me money.

Me: Really? I thought that each site required its own hosting account.

GoDaddy: Not necessarily. If your site uses an SSL certificate, then that’s true. Otherwise, you can choose a site as the primary domain, then add secondary domains to that account. You’ll be fine as long as you stay within the space limitations of your hosting plan.

I’ll send you a link to our Help Center – you can find answers to questions about the process there. And if you get stuck, call us.

I couldn’t believe it.

Me: Thanks for this information. You just reduced my hosting costs by 50%!

GoDaddy: I’m glad we could help. Is everything else with your service OK? Do you have questions I might be able answer?

Me: No, not right now.

GoDaddy: Well, we really appreciate your business. If there is anything we can do for you in the future, please let us know. Have a great holiday!

I read a lot of blogger debates about the right way to thank customers. Phone vs. email, gifts vs. cards. These are the wrong arguments.

The tools don’t matter. Caring does.

Your objective: thank customers in a way that shows you really care. Do it like GoDaddy, and your customers might just thank you instead.

The reality: it could, but it usually doesn’t.

When companies connect with customers online, it becomes possible to fundamentally shift how they deliver customer service. That’s good, but it’s not enough.

A business needs to encourage customers to share more than complaints. What’s more valuable – sharing rants or sharing dreams?

One leads to customer service, the other to customer intimacy.

“All that my customers care about is price.”

Be honest – have you ever said those words? If so, I’ve got news:

You’re right.

But do you know why?

It’s because you haven’t really given customers much else to care about in the first place.

“No…” I smiled, wondering if she would persist.

“Would you like to become one?”

“Not really.” Then, of course, I got curious. “How many people say yes?”

“Almost no one,” she said. “But I’m supposed to ask.”

No surprise there. Loyalty programs, once something of a novelty, don’t actually work. Consumers are smart enough to know that they’ll wind up with too much SPAM and a weekly newsletter they don’t want to read. Yet companies love to push them.

Here’s the tip: real customer loyalty has nothing to do with a program. If the experience or product is great (think The Apple Store), then we’re in. That’s it – no discounts, freebies or plastic cards necessary.

A company’s story can’t be about convenience, low-cost, premium-value, and great selection.

A politician can’t talk about lowering taxes, increasing services, attacking bureaucracy, and reducing the deficit.

A Little League coach can’t preach health and fitness to his team and then sneak a cigarette while the kids are running laps.

I realize that it’s hard to take a stand, to tell people what they don’t want to hear. But it does no good to change your story to suit your audience. Sooner or later people will figure out that you don’t stand for anything at all, which means you’ll be gone tomorrow.

There is another kind of follow-up that seems hard, but really isn’t. And since it takes place in moments other than when a sale is on the line, it’s much more powerful.

I’m not talking about generic thank you emails or satisfaction surveys. They’re boring, and do nothing to create customer loyalty or referrals. What I mean is someone from the company connects with the customer in meaningful way.

Let’s use an easy example: high-end restaurants. People aren’t dining out as much these days, and those that do are typically buying cheaper wine and ordering fewer courses. To lure customers in, many restaurants now offer value menus or run promotions. Fine. But the only time they follow-up with a customer is when confirming a reservation.

What if they decided to follow-up with patrons in a simple but unconventional* way? Someone from the restaurant could call to ask how dinner was the night before. Or the wait staff could send handwritten thank you cards to their customers. And if those doing the follow-up are empowered to resolve problems, than you’re much closer to establishing an emotional connection with your customers than you were before.

This small act is inexpensive, and chances are it will do more to generate repeat business and referrals than advertising ever will.

*This is unconventional for a restaurant, which is why it might work. The point here is that you need to figure out what is unconventional for your business and act on that.