Champagne in Economy Class
She approaches my seat with a quick step and holds between her arms a red bag that seems to hide something.
- “Pascal, this is for you, this is the Champagne reserved for Business Class. Thank you again for the chocolates, it really touches us!”
The chocolates are an idea of my friend Guillaume from Miles Addict. If I am on this plane today, it is thanks to him.
Because after having booked all my flights, he slipped me this little tip: “Give them a present, write a note and your seat number on a post-it and don’t expect anything. Tell them it’s because they must have bad customers more often than good ones.”
“Don’t expect anything!”. It resonates strongly with me and I buy a box of chocolates.
But back to chocolates. Because there is something very powerful to learn for your Branding and that of your company.
It boils down to two sentences:
- Chocolate is the Marketing tactic.
- The intention that I put behind it is my long-term strategy.
To be really honest, I did not fully understand this notion of Intention until I got to the edge of the plane.
But at the time of offering this box, I was already so happy to see their smile that my level of kiff was at its maximum. And that was enough for me. Because my intention was to please, to say thank you, to recognize these people. That’s all.
And it makes me think of all the times a company or brand has surprised me with a little attention – no matter the size of the company:
- When the restaurateur offers me coffee at the end of the meal
- When the clothing store clerk slips a cool and useful gadget into my bag and hands it to me.
- When the best Kebab in town greets me with a homemade Falafel before I even take my order.
- When the organizer of an event decides after the fact to offer meals to all the participants without asking anything.
- When my Tesla gets an update overnight and now has a feature I couldn’t live without.
- When I was first asked for my name at Starbucks and it was spelled right and with a little drawing next to it.
There is no limit to gratuitous kindness and the consequences (Visibility, Awareness, Perceptions, ROI, …) can be incredible.
It is even one of the two essential elements that a brand must offer to its customers to stand out from:
- Surprise (the unexpected, the extraordinary) and
- Coherence (we come back to the intention behind the Surprise).
Remember that your customers want to live surprising experiences AND consistent with the universe you offer them.
Like love in a couple, the loyalty of your customers is earned every day.
And you, what was the last surprise you offered to your customers?
