In his book Positively Outrageous Service, T. Scott Gross explains the value of giving customers unexpected outrageous service at random. Positively Outrageous Service consists of memorable events that are out of the ordinary and delivered in a way that develops customer relationships for life.
In his recent newsletter, Jim Paluch of JP Horizons, Inc. explains that although every contact you have with clients can be exceptional and caring, it’s when you throw in a little “Positively Outrageous Service” that customer loyalty truly develops, causing them to stick around to see what you will do next. Below are examples from Gross’s book.
A couple was returning home on their wedding anniversary on a Delta flight to San Antonio. Both were suffering miserable colds, they made a feeble attempt at humor by telling the ticket agent that they wee truly “sick and tired.” The agent wished them a happy anniversary and upgraded their tickets to first class seats. Positively Outrageous Service and they will never fly another airline.
Phil Romano had a gimmick based on the psychological principle that random reward begets regular behavior. Once a month on either a Monday or a Tuesday night (no one knew until it happened), everyone at his out of the way restaurant received a letter of appreciation instead of a bill. The result was a packed house seven nights a week, customers coming back on the chance of hitting a lucky night and he had hundreds of “marketers” selling Macaronis on a daily basis to their friends.
How can this idea be applied to the real estate and home staging businesses? For stagers it could be something as simple as a call after an open house to both the agent and the homeowner to find out how it went. A free consultation sent randomly to an agent a few weeks after an office visit is also Positively Outrageous Service.
For agents, offering a staging consultation as part of your listing services could be Positively Outrageous Service. It shows that you really do care about selling a client’s home—you’re not going to just stick a sign in the yard and disappear.
What other ideas and examples of Positively Outrageous Service are out there—please share.
Deb
For more information about JP Horizons visit jphorizons.com I find his newsletters thought provoking.
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