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.

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.

“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.

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.