Mother’s Day is this Sunday. Today my daughter, Raka, who is currently working on a project in India, called me to share her excitement about the flowers she sent to her mom for Mother’s Day. At first, I did not get it. She sends flowers to her mom on Mother’s Day every year, so why was this one so important to her? Then she forwarded an email from the local florist, and it completely floored me.

First, the florist sent Raka a picture of the actual floral arrangement that was delivered to her mom, with the text, “Please enjoy the attached photos of the Cup Of Tea Deluxe with lilies arrangement we delivered with your message.”  Sharing a picture of the actual flowers was a brilliant idea as my daughter was assured of exactly what was sent to her mother.

Then, my daughter pointed out the details on their email about how they deliver. Here is the text:
“Upon arrival, the driver places the arrangement next to the front door, rings the doorbell and knocks on the front door, then returns to the delivery vehicle to observe the recipient come out the door and bring the arrangement inside. If the recipient does not come out to pick up the arrangement, the delivery driver will then call or text the recipient letting them know there is an arrangement waiting for them.”

Now that made me feel WOW.  I now got it why Raka was so excited about this flower delivery. The extra moment they took to take the picture of the actual flowers and the extra effort in delivery, made me ask, “What else extra are they doing for their customers?” They truly had gone the extra mile.

The Path of Going the Extra Mile for Customers

Most businesses want to go above and beyond to deliver extras to their customers but very few reach the level of viral the local florist achieved.  Brands reach the extra mile when they do the following three things:

1. Have Clarity of the End Goal: This helps them have a clear idea of why the customer needs them. The florist realized that my daughter who is currently living in India, entrusted them to deliver flowers to convey her love to her mother on Mother’s Day.  The florist clearly knew that their goal was to assure the sender and deliver the flowers in perfect condition. This helped them to go above and beyond.
2. Put Processes in Place that Wow:   In this case, the email from the florist shows that they take every flower delivery seriously and they have clearly defined processes to do it consistently, every time.  They shared their process with pride with customers. These processes are needed as the path to going the extra mile cannot be random.
3. Always Lookout for Wowing Opportunities: Once the big picture vision and wowing processes are in place, then it is important to keep eyes open for every opportunity to wow customers. In Raka’s case, when she thanked the business, they immediately responded with a personal email that touched her even more.  This happened because the business was anticipating customer responses and were ready to wow them, one at a time.

1. Are you clear of the end goal?
2. Have you put in place processes to wow your customers?
3. Do you always lookout for wowing opportunities?

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