Loading Yesterday my wife and I decided to get some pizza. It had been a long day full of work and we didn’t feel like cooking. Okay, so SHE didn’t feel like cooking. Anyway, we drove a few minutes into town to pickup a pizza.
Now most of the time I would call ahead to pickup a pizza because I don’t want to waste time just sitting there, or at the least I would bring stuff to work on or read. But, we tried calling ahead and there was no answer. Very frustrating to try to give a business money and them not wanting to take it.
Normally I would have skipped getting the food at this place, but the food was inexpensive and we both wanted pizza, so off we went to pick it up.
When we got there my wife went in to place our order. I received a phone call while pulling into the parking lot so I was running a bit behind. When I got into the store the crew that was making the pizza was goofing off- but not in an unprofessional way. They had created some kind of song, and cheers for when new customers came in, and when they would make a pizza.
It was funny, and it was interesting. And it brought a smile to my face. The total time it actually took to get our food was under 5 minutes, so it was also fast.
But as we walked out I realized that both my wife, and I, had forgotten to tell them that their phone wasn’t working, or that nobody was answering it. Their humor had gotten our attention and quite literally, put us in a better mood.
Very interesting. In the book “Emotional Intelligence” David Goleman describes a similar experience when he hopped on a city bus, with the bus driver giving a tour and being extremely friendly to people.
What does this have to do with marketing and your business? Everything, perhaps.
It does no good to do proper marketing, proper advertising, and spend the time, energy, and money to get a customer INTO your business if you do not do a good job of taking care of them.
A sales experience audit can be money well spent that investigates how well your business is handling the leads and prospects it gets.
You must realize that the slightest thing can turn off a customer, or attract a customer to you.
In this case, they did a great job. The chiropractor experience that I posted about a few days ago, did not.
I think I’m off to get some pizza 
-Matt
