As my wife and I pulled up to the drive through window of my local coffee shop this morning, the cashier surprised us with our total, “That will be $0.29.”
“What?” my wife and I asked and quizzically glanced at each other.
“The customer ahead of you decided to contribute to your bill after the customer in front of him paid for his.” the cashier explained as he took my debit card.
As we digested our unexpected luck with a smile, the cashier leaned out the window with our drinks and returned our card. My wife handed the card back to the cashier, “Can we pick up the tab for the car behind us?” The cashier smiled, told us the next customer’s total to make sure we agreed to the amount and ran our card again.
As we drove away, I thought about the exchange with the cashier, our anonymous benefactor and wondered if the car behind us decided to continue the mini “Pay It Forward” campaign. I hope the next car felt the same way we did and decided to “Pay It Forward” as well. My wife and I agreed that in addition to being thankful to our predecessors in the chain of benefactors, we also owed some measure of gratitude to the cashier for relaying the good news in a way that encouraged us to participate rather than just enjoy the benefit afforded us and drive away.
There are a lot of facets to developing the ideal customer experience, but one incredibly important idea for smaller businesses is the ability to cultivate a vibrant community for your product or service. By sharing our benefactor’s gift with us in a way that gave us context (he’d received the same kindness) rather than as though it was a just random one-time occurrence (“the guy ahead of you left his change for the next customer”), the cashier invited us to participate in the activity. Put differently, in two seconds, the cashier explained to us what type of customers the coffee shop served and invited us to join the community of ‘nice guys’ that like this shop’s coffee.
It worked. We joined instantly by paying for the next car. We didn’t save much money, but we received far more value from the experience than if we had just received our coffee and left (our expectation as customers) or just counted our blessings for receiving a random act of kindness. I’m looking forward to my next visit to the coffee shop, not because I expect the same treatment (although the social scientist in me may try to initiate the goodwill next time), but because I ‘bought in’ to the message about the type of customer the coffee shops serves and I enjoy being part of that group.
There are dozens of strategies and tactics that can foster community among your customers and clientele. They can build customer trust, inspire loyalty, boost engagement or simply teach your customers more about who you are and what your business is about. As in the inspiration for this post, the invitation to join your community doesn’t have to be expensive or even particularly time consuming, the key feature is that you define a community with which your customers will identify and want to join. A thoughtful approach to delivering your ‘invitation’ will ensure that customers enjoy the opportunity to be a member and reduce the chance that customers view their interaction with your business as simply a transaction.
What kinds of experiences have you had that successfully encouraged you to ‘join’ a business’s customer community?
Very interesting. What a concept although been around like forever but surely heightened by the movie of it’s same title. I say that because before the movie, I didn’t see these acts published although I am positive the notion is as old as the written word. Who started this? Was it a well to do person who may have seen the, metaphorically, car behind them as of less means and ways or was it the reverse? A person struggling with means and ways seeing it as God’s directive. What drove the action, what was the causal influence? I wonder.
I can find many interpretations on this action of paying it forward in the religious text from all of the regions of the world. It does however, remind me of a lessor know instance when an old women giving her last penny to the synagogue vs. the rich man who gave only a portion of his riches. Was she not paying it forward? I would say he was too but only a small portion of his wealth. And the cashier, was she not paying it forward too? Not with a monetary payment but with a payment of compassion, kindheartedness, maybe humanity? And because this is a more business like forum I won’t shout the ultimate pay it forward event. You may not have considered this a religious thought as I do, so let me stray from mine for the moment, which is that this is all about the inherent goodness of man. Which has eroded over time but thankfully some of us hold on to our compassion and humanity rather than heighten hate and discontent.
Let me now say that there is nothing new under the sun. Oh wait, more religion…my point is that you speak of “dozens of strategies and tactics that can foster community among your customers and clientele. They can build customer trust, inspire loyalty, boost engagement or simply teach your customers more about who you are and what your business is about”. I submit to you that you have described “business”. I further submit that you have described “community” No more, no less. What’s most interesting about this pay it forward action is that it surprised you…and me? I don’t mean that negatively because I am sure it was surprising, enjoyable and fun and even more rewarding that you too paid it forward. It would have made my day as well. Don’t you get that pay it forward experience every time you have an enjoyable and rewarding transaction because you are surprised when it happens and in this and many cultures, sadly the opposite is standard. We have mostly lost the meaning of business and community.
So back to the business conversation, where I have to also submit to you that the principles of business and community all have the basis in the mosaic law of the new Old Testament and the Torah. Sorry Bill Mayer…somebody has to say it…
Forgive my rambling but it was all about your “inspiration for this post, the invitation to join your community “ and in a long and around about way to say you are right. If we, as service providers to businesses and communities as individuals, consider the other side of the transaction more we would conclude your inspiration for the post every time. Have you ever heard of the golden rule…
I say pay that forward….
Thanks for the comment, agree that Pay It Forward has been around for ages and contributes to what I expect most of us think of as a society of which we’d like to be a part, whether as the Golden Rule or other maxims from various faith traditions. I liked that you re-emphasized the role the cashier played in the experience. He really did make the moment, in the context of fostering a ‘customer community’, the hope is to develop business practices that turn that chance occurrence into a part of the ambience / everyday experience of your business. I think of it as the “Cheers” effect, whether a coffee shop, pub, social media site, church or other community which you value as a member, its nice to be where everyone knows your name, so-to-speak. As a business manager, you can foster that culture by providing a welcoming environment and actively seeking opportunities to connect your customers in ways they may not otherwise connect, if not for their shared connection, you and your product.
Sometimes, its as simple as engaging your customers at the point of sale to reinforce the culture you are seeking (like the cashier did with my wife and I) and other efforts are more structural, like customer loyalty programs with particular benefits that appeal to the type of customer you want to attract. Other efforts demonstrate what is important to you and your business, like involvement in community events (sponsoring a local baseball team) or supporting a cause (designing a custom product for the (Red) campaign), so customers can take pride in supporting a business with similar values.
Its easy to miss the point, which you make well, Steve, we’re all people and members of various communities that are better when we treat each other well. For business owners, I’d recommend a great sense ownership and accountability in the shaping of that community, its both to your benefit and the community as a whole.