On going the extra mile, and why it matters

I've had a lot of bad experiences with various companies over the past year. I was often left feeling like the customer was no longer king in today's market - something that runs counter to my own beliefs moreso now than ever. I was doubly dissapointed when companies whose services I had relied on for years started being unreliable, untimely and unhelpful. Trust is hard to build and easy to lose.

With that in mind, I'd like to give a word of encouragement for those that go the extra mile and think it might not matter. It does, truly - a few employees going the distance made all the difference for me this year in quite a few cases.

The Restaurant

There's a place where I eat lunch daily. I always buy the daily menu, but I don't think I actually make them all that much money through that, and I haven't left any memorable tips either. I like the venue for a lot of reasons - the staff are quick and polite, the daily menu varies a lot but is always well-made, and I genuinely enjoy the ambience of the place. However, financially speaking, I would normally have been a low priority client for them.

The plusses could normally have faded in a heartbeat given the right circumstances.

The make-or-break moment was when I came in one day, and all the open tables were reserved. Given that the location belongs to a fairly high-class hotel, it was fair to assume that those who had made the reservations would likely pay them more that day than I would in two months. I browsed around and saw no way that I could have taken my lunch there that day, and readied myself to leave.

Of course, anyone who works in an office for a living knows how sad that feels. My day was saved, however, when one of the waiters, who knew me as a modest regular, said I could have a place at one of the reserved tables so long as I took my lunch a bit faster than usual, as the expected guests might arrive soon.

I ended up having my lunch and being fortunate enough to not have had to disturb those who had reserved the tables. But, more importantly, I am pleased to return there daily, knowing I am valued as a customer. They could very well have sent me on my way that day, and not doing so made the difference. That waiter took on a risk for me, and I appreciated it greatly. Had that event taken another course, I would have considered changing my restaurant of choice.

The Retailer

On another occasion, I had made a large order with a retailer I'd been ordering from, on and off, for the past few years. One of the items I purchased had a significant discount when I added it into my cart. I was on the edge for quite a while on whether I should place the order or not, and what it should contain, but I eventually decided to go forward with it. It's important to note that the order was outside of some major, public-crazing discount event.

To my surprise, when I analyzed the cost of the order after placing it, I realized that the above-mentioned significant discount was gone. I work in software, so I understood what happened perfectly: they had a discount, it expired at some point before I placed my order but after I had placed the item in my cart, and they didn't have a system in place to warn you of such things happening when you actually placed the order, either by oversight (understandable) or due to intent of making profit based on people not paying attention (machiavellian, and also sort of understandable, but harder to emphasize with).

That discount was the tie-breaker for me. I might not have placed the order without it. So, I mailed them about it, playing dumb, and expected them to simply say that the item can be removed from my order and that would be the end of it. Instead, with absolutely no hassle nor questions, they retroactively applied the discount for my order again.

Once again, that made the difference. Not only was I happy with my order, but it also drove me to make another order within the next few days that would otherwise have been made with their competitors. Whatever profit they lost from my first order, they likely gained back from my second. And all while keeping me satisfied as a customer. Win-win.

The Web Host

Finally, there's a host I keep a few of my relatively low-traffic websites on. I pay a pretty low bill (think maybe a cheap pizza a month), but one time, about two months after I had signed on, the billing deadline caught me with no money on any of my cards. No cash either; I was sort of broke. It would be another week or so before I could pay them for their services.

I explained the situation to them, and they generously extended my service period until the date I said I could make my payment on.

You might think a lot of companies would do this, because there's always some delays between the moment a payment takes place and when you have the money available anyway, and offering a few extra days would be cheaper if you got the payment in the end than losing the client entirely. You're right.

But here's the thing: the exact same situation repeated itself again for another two months. They came through for me both times, and with no downtime for my websites. Every time, I did pay them as soon as I had the necessary funds, and there have been no incidents since.

But once again, I might have went elsewhere had I not been valued as a client, and, once again, I wasn't exactly their main source of revenue, to force them to make the choice (and take the financial risk) of helping me.

I expect to be their loyal client for years to come.

The takeaway

In all of these situations, an employee (or a business, but what are businesses if not their employees?) took a risk on me. Maybe it was company protocol and there wouldn't have been any repercussions had I been a bad gamble, or maybe it was their own gut instinct at the moment and they were ready to take a real risk - I won't ever find out. Regardless, in all of the situations I've mentioned above, someone who definitely didn't have to went the extra mile for me and gained my loyalty in the process.

And loyalty is getting rarer these days.