You probably do things for your customers that they may not even realize. Sure, they may realize the benefits but they may not know you did something extra for that to happen. This is an opportunity to strengthen your relationship with customers.
If your customers knew you went the extra mile for them, you’ll create some goodwill. When you give your customers stellar service or a fabulous experience, you keep adding goodwill to your virtual savings account.
So when can you take a withdrawal from your goodwill savings account? Odds are you don’t want to plan for it. You’ll need all that goodwill when you make a mistake. If you use up all your goodwill, there will be nothing left when disaster strikes.
On a recent Southwest Airlines flight, our plane arrived several minutes early. This usually goes unnoticed but this flight was different. The flight attendant announcing our arrival at the gate highlighted the fact that we were early and said, “remember that next time we’re late and we’ll call it even.”
In this case Southwest Airlines not only built up some goodwill with an early arrival, but they casually reminded us of that fact so we would be more merciful when they are late.
Are you building up goodwill with your customers? Great! Take those opportunities to develop your relationship with customers to make them loyal for the long term. A strong relationship, built on goodwill, will cushion the inevitable mistakes you will make.