Sometimes just doing one thing, maybe two, can make all the difference...

If you look at most businesses today, it is quite sad that many passionate people are doing mediocre things, and they wonder why their businesses are struggling. Why they are just hanging on rather than being as successful as they would like.

Paul Dunn, a friend and mentor, once said, "Everyone seems to do the ordinary things, yet so few... the truly successful businesses... do the extraordinary."

It's interesting that we almost always forget that how we set up our business, how we run our business, the advertising we do, the marketing we attempt, the customer service we may or may not effectively provide, the fulfilment of our product or service to a client... are all critically part of the true marketing of our business.

In fact, the thing we fail to realise, is that EVERTHING that we do in our business is actually MARKETING... because everything that we do, will affect the success of our business!

The following story recently came across my desk and I thought to share it with you.

I think that it illustrates that a little effort, really does make a huge difference between just hanging on and truly reaping the rewards of success!

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Excerpt from: The Simple Truths of Service - by Ken Blanchard and Barbara Glanz

Years ago, my friend, Harvey Mackay, told me a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point. He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey. He handed my friend a laminated card and said: “I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk, I’d like you to read my mission statement.”

Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said: Wally’s Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, “Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.”

My friend said jokingly, “No, I’d prefer a soft drink.”

Wally smiled and said, “No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.”

Almost stuttering, Harvey said, “I’ll take a Diet Coke.”

Handing him his drink, Wally said, “If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.”

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card. “These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.”

As if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him.

Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of the day.

He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights, or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

“Tell me, Wally,” my amazed friend asked the driver, “have you always served customers like this?”

Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. “No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.

He had just written a book called 'You’ll See It When You Believe It'. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.’

“That hit me right between the eyes,” said Wally. “Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.”

“I take it this has paid off for you,” Harvey said.

“It sure has,” Wally replied. “My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.”

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call.

The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn’t do any of what I was suggesting.

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like a duck and start soaring like an eagle.

Think about your business... what one small thing can you do today, that will make a difference to your business: A clean uniform, a clean car, tweaking your customer service and follow up, smiling more often at customers, saying thank you regularly...

We often forget that the smallest things in our business... not just the big things, are all part of how our customers perceive us... and whether we realise it or not, that it is a significant part of the foundation of our marketing to the world at large.

I challenge you to give it a shot, and let me know how you get on.

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