I met a friend of mine for coffee and a catch up last week.
We met outside the pre-arranged coffee shop and Jan, myself and Jan’s 4 year old daughter wandered on in.
We were met very quickly by the waitress.
She crouched down.
“Hello there! We love little girls coming to our shop. We have a present just for you! Would you like it?”
The answer was a very excited “Yes.”
The waitress focused all of the initial attention on Amy, the four year old.
She quickly came back with a shoe box sized ‘gift’. Beautifully wrapped in nice colourful paper and tied with a pink bow.
We ordered some coffees while Amy unwrapped her gift. The box contained 4 pieces of paper, 2 colouring in pencils, 5 plastic building blocks and a picture book.
Amy was one happy little kid. And Jan was one happy mother.
They care
In that simple exchange the coffee shop has said “We care.” And they’ve shown they care. You customers want you to show you care.
Jan and I had our coffees and catch up. Amy happily played with the pencils and paper.
- The happier the child is the longer the parent will stay.
- The longer the parent will stay the more they will buy.
- The happier the parent is the more likely it is she/he will return.
- With a simple bit of lateral thinking the business has done something out of the ordinary – and that will generate positive word of mouth business.
Talking with Jan, I soon found out that it was the only coffee shop she goes to. And that every friend she has goes there.
Simple idea. Well executed. Building a business.