Crawtators with a side of WOW!

One of the more colorful folks I have met in my contracting career was Vicki. Baton Rouge born and bred, she was very quick to try to help this Yankee learn more about Louisiana culture and more specifically, Baton Rouge.  Vicki is a great example of Southern Hospitality. She taught me about Mardi Gras, hot sauce and gumbo all in that wonderfully rich southern accent. I took a particular liking to a seasoning called “Slap Ya Mama”. The name was a bit much, however the taste was fantastic. When my contract ended, she made sure that I had a proper southern sendoff complete with a to-go package of Slap Ya Mama. Vicki went out of her way to make me feel at home and to be sure that I would never forget my Baton Rouge experience.

Some two years later, I finally ran out of Slap Ya Mama and sent Vicki a quick note to let her know that it took a Northerner that long to use up the seasoning. She responded quickly and promised to send me up a new package. I thanked her and felt, (just a little), that the package would never show. We all get pretty busy with life and this was such a trivial thing.

 Two weeks later a box showed up in my mail. A big box, big enough for a toaster, and it was from Vicki! My first thought was, “Just how much packaging do you need to wrap a salt shaker size of seasoning in to keep it from breaking open”. But this box was heavy. I eagerly tore into the box to find it full of Southern Louisiana goodies! Gumbo mix, Mardi Gras beads, southern rice, hot sauce, southern potato chips, seasonings and yes…right up front… a new package of Slap Ya Mama!

 I was totally blown away. This exceeded every expectation that I had. I felt that I might never see my favorite seasoning again, and to be sent a whole collection of southern yummies in the mail blew my mind. This wasn't just seasoning, this was a care package! What a great feeling!

 It’s this kind of feeling that I’m referring to when I talk to my staff about delivering the “WOW” to our customers. It’s going beyond expectations, doing a little extra and doing it with the right attitude. Have a genuine smile on your face when you deliver. I have always coached my staff to be sure that there was a little unexpected something for our customers each time we touched them. I ask them; does it really take that much more time or cost the company that much money more to deliver a product and experience that the customer will truly remember? The clear answer is no. Do more than is expected, sooner than is expected each time, and you will build a rock solid relationship with your customer. And you managers out there remember that your staff members are your customer as well.

 After eating a couple of bags of Spicy Crawtator chips I reached out to Vicki and asked her what I owed for the box. Her response was, “A single man, good looking, 40-50 who loves southern cooking”.

 Now that’s going to be a tough expectation to exceed!