Small Things Matter

Over the years the quality of the card has deteriorated in every single wayThe card used to be plastic and then became a thick removable card and then it was something that had perforations on a larger piece of paper that you had to tear and now it is as thin as it can get with scissor marks where you need to cut itThe quality of the card plunges in inverse proportion to the increase in premiums no accident or any reason to justify the increases in premiumIt is a small thingBut it is the only time the brand and I interact assuming that I remain lucky enough not to have to file a claim Its their twice annual contact point And every time I open their mail I see a cheaper card some confabulation of consultants accountants and financial operators have optimized to reduce costs along with a standard completely non customized come on to buy more insurance along with the gift of a higher premiumMaybe the masters of optimization may want to consider a little less media spend on Jake from State Farm commercials to help fund a better existing customer interaction in the twice annual touch pointsIt is a small thingBut small things matterRecently I flew to Singapore Outbound on Singapore airlines Return on UnitedI have no status on Singapore Highest status on UnitedSame aircraft and with no significant difference in interiorSame catering service so the food was not really differentDramatically different experiencesUnited was acceptable Singapore was outstandingIt was the small thingsOn Singapore the stewards and stewardesses knew your name and looked at the passengers and smiled The hot towels were hot The utensils napkin and the crockery may have been the same material but one just felt much more special The contents of the vanity bag the quality of the eye mask were all an edge aboveOn one airline they asked how much cost can we remove and on another they think about how a few more dollars on a multiple thousand dollar ticket can make a difference so lets not be penny wise and pound foolishAnd smiles they are freeSuch small things made the differenceBecause small things matterOver the years many people have called me or reached out to me when in transition between jobs or when they are out of work or when they need a boostAlmost every time I have responded and often met with or spoken to or written back to each of these peopleThey no longer had power They no longer had the big brand name In some cases they were a confused hot mess because they had got laid off their company had tanked or something dramatic had changed the trajectory of their careerMany were surprised especially when I had a big job in a big company that I made it a priority to find time to get backAlmost every one of them in time got back on their feet or found their way and often soared to amazing career and vocational successNow once again they were in demand and everyone called backBut they were different because of what they had experiencedThey no longer equated themselves with their positions and their big company brand names and they now called people back who needed help even if they might not have beforeBecause it is when few people are willing to speak to somebody is exactly when we need to speak to them and pay attentionIt is a small thingBut people rememberForeverBecause small things matterSmall things and marketingFor decades marketers have found certain stages in a personamp8217s life where they are more susceptible to messaging and marketingWhether it is the impending birth of a child to a physical relocation there are times where people are more open to change or to paying attentionMarketers also recognize that there are moments of interaction where upselling or crossselling is likely to be more successful such as when someone is opening an account or when one is about to pay for items in oneamp8217s real or digital shopping cartBasically marketers look for moments of greatest attention and interestThe challenge is that everybody knows these rituals and some combination of high costs and fees to show up at these moments or a certain weariness and understanding by people of what is happening makes these less differentiableIf instead of thinking only about where someone is on a customerpurchase journey we think about where we can surprise them positively the most or turn a negative to a positive we find compelling momentsFor instance if we want to get people to speak well about our product or service instead of advertising to them or desperately try to get likes or influencer mentions why not give them a sample of the product for free Why not reallocate a portion of the communication budget to enhance the quality of the product or service which will then speak for itself and get its satisfied users to speak about it In todayamp8217s world brands are more likely to scale through people if they have a superior product or service rather than just telling people they have a superior product or serviceImagine if you were a cable company or publisher and reallocate the amp8220stop them from unsubscribingamp8221 budget where you slash prices increase channels in a bundle or enhance broadband speeds to people who are quitting to instead reward the most loyal customers by going to them and cutting their fees andor upgrading their services to simply say thank youWhen someone least expects an act of generosity it has a tattoo like impactIt means they are special and they are not being taken for grantedIt is just a special small thingSo many marketers promise to amp8220surprise and delightamp8221 customers but do we reallyOne or two small amp8220surprise and delightsamp8221 might be worth a year of messagingLess is more The rare is meaningful The special resonatesTraffic in scarcity to stand out in a world of abundance sameness and noiseThink about the small things the moments that you can tattoo so by askingamp160amp8220what can we do and where can we do something that will make someone come away differentamp8221It may be small thingsBut small things matteramp8230Posted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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Small Things Matter

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Rishad Tobaccowala

We Are the Outliers - By Jack Myers

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