It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and most of us are thinking about how much we value our spouse, significant others, friends and family. This is great, and if you have not figured out what you are doing to make them feel special this weekend, it’s never too late!
Some people might think it is bizarre to ask if you love your customers because the English language uses this word to describe such a wide range of relationships. To be clear, when we say “love”, we mean it purely in the brotherly sense embodied by the Greek word philia.
So, with the romance language lesson aside, how will this concept of loving your customers help you grow your brand and strengthen your public relations?
Companies that love their customers enough to differentiate and create unique value are respected and highly profitable. You may have heard of notable examples including: Nordstrom’s, Southwest Airlines and Zappos.
If you are in an extremely competitive and price sensitive industry (e.g., the auto industry), you may be thinking that this concept does not apply to you. I used to agree, until I heard the story of Taxi Terry at Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week (HDAW) 2013.
Taxi Terry was once an ordinary taxi driver in Jacksonville, Florida, until he decided to differentiate his brand by loving his customers and offering unique value. He created a brand promise to deliver “the best cab ride of your life” to his customers. This strategy rapidly elevated Terry to become the Jacksonville chauffeur of choice for serious companies like IBM, Microsoft and others. We cannot tell the entire story as well as Scott McKain did, so we encourage you to watch it below.
In the end, the story became an inspirational challenge to find new ways to love our clients and seek new ways to provide unique value. If Taxi Terry can wow his customers in the taxicab industry, what is our excuse when we do not clearly communicate how much we appreciate our customers?
