I relocated to Mobile on the beautiful Gulf Coast in the mid 1970’s and one of the first “new words” I learned there was lagniappe. It is a wonderful concept and an ingrained part of the phenomenal culture of the entire region, but most famously in New Orleans. Lagniappe is the 13th beignet (fritter) when you buy a dozen in the French Market, or the unexpected afternoon basket of biscuits and syrup at your Bed & Breakfast, the extra praline in your box at the local candy shop, or even finding a $50 bill in the trunk of a new vehicle purchased from an Acadiana automobile dealership!
I want to suggest that you consider lagniappe as part of your sales and marketing strategy, as it’s always good business to give something away or do something for free in addition to your normal revenue producing activities.
In my business it is a FREE weekly newsletter called Selling Point. Every week I write and publish an article, averaging 750 words, providing valid sales ideas and strategies, customer service stories and tips, or sales management approaches. It’s my way of giving back after 45 years in the selling universe. It is absolutely FREE, with no strings attached, and there are several ways folks can access it. They can subscribe, meaning it will automatically be delivered to their email each time a new issue is published, https://robinsontrainingsolutions.com/blog/, or they can access it on my personal LinkedIn page, https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-robinson-blue-collar-sales-coach-08354955/, or on my business Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/robinsontrainingsolutions/.
By outlining my game plan here, I hope you can easily see how big of a footprint you can achieve in the marketplace, regardless whether you start a blog, provide an introductory offer for a product or service, or do a giveaway of an eBook or a podcast related to what you sell, etc.
Today I want to provide an example of how something financially lucrative often happens as a result of offering “something for nothing.” This particular example began when I wrote and published a 2-part post on 8/17/2015 and 8/21/2015 following a personal customer service experience.
Here are the links to those posts for you to read before I continue my story:
https://robinsontrainingsolutions.com/well-done-better-than-well-said-part1/
https://robinsontrainingsolutions.com/well-done-better-than-well-said-part2/
To be clear, there were two specific reasons I wrote those posts; first I thought this manager deserved a public attaboy for turning a bad customer experience into a very positive conclusion, and I doubted his superiors would ever hear about this unless someone chirped. The second reason is that salespeople and managers continually need a steady diet of good and bad customer service stories, regardless of industry, to keep them sober as to their real purpose in the marketplace; and this event provided one.
What happened next was very interesting as you will see below. This is the actual email I received from this company’s VP a few days later which I cut and pasted here.
Photo by rawpixel.com on Unsplash
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August 26, 2015
Mr. Robinson,
Thank you for your email and story recognizing Allen’s outstanding effort. I really loved the title. As you are in the customer service business, you know how important and gratifying it is to hear from customers like you when great service makes such an impression, as there is nothing better than reinforcement. We train for and preach the message of great customer service continually, some really get it and some just never will, Allen gets it. Our goal is to deliver beyond, as you mentioned in Part 1, an “uneventful and routine” experience. What we do isn’t flashy or something our customers look forward to so our opportunity lies in how we treat our customers in making them feel important, that we truly care about their vehicle and that they are appreciated. Your wording in Part 2, “then he really wowed me”…is so very significant to us as you can see below.
Our Purpose speaks to our stewardship responsibility. The Core Values are meant to be the principles that filter all our actions towards each other, our customers, vendors and anyone else that comes in contact with our company. You can find this hanging in all 52 of our waiting areas.
I spent some time on your website and would be interested in meeting with you. We are always looking for training opportunities. We have a big need for sales training. Many of our people are young and lack the confidence needed to present themselves as knowledgeable and credible. They know the products and services but many stammer and stutter or come off as they are trying to push something that is not needed. Please let me know if you feel that you have something that would work for us.
Thank you again for taking the time to write about Allen and I look forward to hearing from you.
Joe
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Next week, in Part II, you will see my response and what happened next. Don’t miss it!
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“I want to give a shout to Doug for his Selling Point newsletter. Most guys like him just tease readers with tidbits of information but Doug provides complete lessons on each topic he writes about. Every week I look forward to reading and applying his ideas in my business. Who says you can’t get something for nothing!” Rob-Lafayette, IN. Subscribe for yourself HERE.
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©2018 Robinson Training Solutions, LLC
