Chapter 17
Common Courtesy Is a Marketing Strategy
The printing company's truck backed up to our warehouse door, loaded with about a hundred cartons of brochures for one of our companies. The driver got a pushcart out of the back and asked where we wanted him to take the boxes. Following our directions, he wheeled the cart full of boxes through our warehouse area and into a back office.
“Just pile them over there,” I said. “We have to separate them by the title of the brochures packed inside before putting them on the shelves.”
“I've already done that for you,” the driver said. “And these boxes are labeled with the different titles right here on the side, to make it easier for you to access the right boxes.” He then proceeded to put the boxes in the right places on the shelves.
Then, as he left the building, he closed the warehouse door behind him.
And, incidentally, he thanked us for our business.
I don't know if this surprises you or not, but that's marketing! I'll tell you this: This experience was a lot different from our experience with most vendors' delivery people. This driver was courteous. This deliveryman did more than was required of him. This deliveryman let us know that our business was appreciated.
Common courtesies, you say. Unfortunately, these courtesies are not very common at all. In fact, they're extremely rare. And it's worth noting that our society, our marketplace, prizes that which is rare most.
This particular experience with this particular ...
