Expanding your business through Appreciation

So true and a concept that many larger corps. fail to pay attention to. I don't own my own business but I work for a small, privately owned store in a small town. I've been there a long time and know the customers. While we have rules and policies, my boss has come to trust my judgment in bending some of the rules. For example, we are not allowed to let people charge anything on a tab. Every now and again a customer will need a few things before payday. I have let them charge because I KNOW that person and I KNOW they will be back in to pay. The list of how we cater to our customers is endless. Just last week a customer pulled in after I'd already shut down the register and done my close-out. I was ready and anxious to get home. WEll, he needed gas and the only way to get it was to use a card. Problem being...he did not have a card. Good greif. I could have gone back in and disarmed the alarm, started up the pump and register and done another report all for this one transaction which I would have done but a light bulb went off. I let him use my bank card and he paid me the cash. Its a feeling....the customers just KNOW you will bend over backwards to help them in anyway possible. People never ever forget how you make them feel whether good or bad.

That is an amazing thought.. I remember reading Dale Carnegie's stuff about this... He has said that appreciation is something that every human being craves for. We give everything to our families and kids etc... We never let their lives be short of anything.. But do we appreciate them, when they do a good deed? no, we forget to do that... And year after year, people go without anyone appreciating them... They should add 'appreciation' as a special study in the text books in schools, so that they will learn in their childhood only about it... That will make the world a better place, most certainly...

The coffee company I am in share the profit with the distributors 7 ways to earn money and they also now Have offered when you reach a certain level the Company gives you so much money per month toward a mersades Now I like other cars but they do have a SUV that dont look bad fullt loaded going to work toward that!. But I want my ringd too they give out at each level starting at Sapphire

Appreciation and anything that could be said to be "beyond the expected" or "going the extra mile" for their customers. I remember in the small town where I grew up, there used to be a small, locally owned IGA grocery store. That store was there from before I was born until sometime when I was in my early 20s, at which time it caught fire (electrical) and burned down. The IGA was never rebuilt as the owner was elderly and decided to just retire. Later on, a new, different kind of grocery store was built, just across the street from where the old IGA had once been. The new grocery store sold everything at least 30% cheaper than the IGA ever did, however, within 2years or a little less, the new store failed, went out of business for lack of customers. This was a small town, and like the IGA before it had been, this new grocery store was the only grocery store in town, yet it still failed, where the old, and more expensive, IGA before it had succeeded. Why? If I had to guess, I would have to say, it came to service, pure and simple. The new grocery store merely sold groceries. The cashier rang you up, the bagger bagged your stuff and, upon request, your cart might have been rolled out to your car for you, and that was it. Nothing above and beyond, nothing special. Now the IGA that used to be there: As you as you walked in the store, you were greeted with a warm smile. The employees spoke to you warmly, as if you were family and were always super helpful. Also, if you had walked to the store, they would offer to deliver the groceries you had bought! And taking them up on that offer would get you a speedy delivery with, you guessed it, a smile! Yep! customer appreciation and going beyond the expected definitely goes a long way toward succeeding in business!

I agree to that... reality check we are now in a worldwide competitions, thousands of companies dealing with same services, offer same products.. etc...but it varies on how such such companies dealt with their customers/clients..on how they maintain good relationship with the clients/customers.