While many people talk about going the extra mile, it seems that few people are actually doing it. I had two interactions that took me by surprise, illustrating how short that extra mile has gotten.
Upon launching a new newsletter, the e-mail system sent the newsletter template out while it was being set up. So a portion of our list received a half done newsletter two weeks before it was supposed to launch. We quickly e-mailed those who received it an apology and explained what had happened. During this I received an e-mail from a woman who was unsure how she got on the mailing list and asked me to contact her, providing her phone number. I called her and had a brief discussion and we figured out what event she had attended that put her on the list. She proceeded to tell me how happy she was that I had called her and how much she appreciated it.
The second interaction was an e-mail from someone who attends our events. She told me she would be unable to attend a particular event and was sorry because she was interested in the topic. I e-mailed her back providing her with a link to a blog post I had written that was the basis for the event and included some of the basic information. Since I had met this person several times, the e-mail was conversational in tone and included points from our past discussions. She responded how thoughtful I was and thanked me.
What took me by surprise about these interactions was how appreciative both people were to what I considered a very minor thing. The effort on my part to respond to their needs was minimal and took only a few minutes between them. What I learned is that so few people are taking even that minimal effort that it stands out. People talk about “going the extra mile” but so few people are actually doing it that the extra mile has shrunck to a few feet. Any effort is appreciated. It took me no time and cost me nothing to make both of these potential customers very happy.
Go the extra mile. The results are well worth it.
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