So its Friday night, the start of the 4th of July weekend and I call it quits about 4pm, and announce to my wife, “I’d like to take you to dinner tonight and have a date cause I know we are going to be busy the next few days with friends and such.” She smiles and says, “Well I would love to have a date with you.”
So we jump in my trusty SAAB and head down to our favorite little place called Pete’s Saloon.” It’s not really a saloon, but a great American food place with burgers, steaks, chicken, etc. It didn’t disappoint and I was truly happy with the food and the company. Just as I was about to order some ice cream, Marie says, “Let’s go to the new ice cream place that opened up on 9A and try that.” “OK”, I say and off we go.
About 10 minutes later we pull up in front of this shiny new ice cream stand and I look around at the crowd and the line to get in. Must be good, I thought and we jump in line.
We finally get inside and I hear one of the ice cream “scooper people” asking everyone to try a sample of what they ordered and telling them how great a particular flavor was and why their pistachio flavor was different because of the type of pistachios they used. Who knew? “Would you like to sample it or maybe some other flavor,” she asked the customer.
Many people did try some other flavor and then changed their order, all the while expressing how happy they were when they got their order and thanking the ice cream scooper lady.
The “scooper” was ecstatic that these people were happy as she continued saying “YESSSSSSSSSS” or “AWESOME” to the customers who were obviously getting a kick out of her.
When my turn came, I asked for plain vanilla with chocolate sauce, she handed me a sample, then asked if I would like to try the vanilla fudge which I accepted. I tasted it and sure enough ordered it. She was pumped up and said, “I’m so glad. I know you’ll like it, the fudge is made here too and then we mix it by hand with the vanilla. Here ya go.” Now, I’m thinking, I’m impressed.”
I stopped her for a second and asked her if she owned the place, “No,” she said. I asked her point blank, if this was an act to get tips. She looked at me and said, “Mister, I really love ice cream and this is the best ice cream I have ever eaten. It’s handmade and the people who make it are my longtime friends and they too love ice cream so I want people to know how much we all put into the ice cream we make; sometimes I get too excited about it, but it makes me happy to see these people love the ice cream as much as I do. Hey I gotta go. Have a good weekend.”
I was surprised at her passion about the ice cream; how unabashedly she shared that with customers; how much they enjoyed seeing her authenticity and belief in what she was serving. After all, she had a real story to tell!
So here’s the $64,000 question.
Do you have or can you summon up that kind of passion and authenticity for your business that can be communicated to your employees on a consistent basis?
Can it become your new “standard operating procedure” which will make your business stand out from all the rest? And make you more profitable?
Is this the magic bullet you’ve been looking for?
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