“Love your customers, more than your products.”

“Now it’s your turn. Can you share the secret sauce, how your business thrives like anything?” He was Pranav, one of my close friend. Today was his birthday. After having a great time and an amazing party, almost all had left except us. We were five in all. We just got busy discussing ins and outs of our lives, and business. Pranav was a doctor, but he always loved doing business. He was very keen about how businesses work and was planning to develop one of his very soon. He knew I manage multiple businesses, and I always work “on” the business rather than working “in” the business. So there he was, with his favourite question, he just wanted to know if I have something for him today? Sure enough, I had many things for him.

Haha! Today there are no secrets Pranav. It’s all “open and obvious” to everyone. However, if you were to ask me how I do business, I would say – “We love our customers more than our products.” That’s all. We are always striving to create as many “Wow” experiences as possible. We want our brand to be all about Excellent Customer Experience. In fact, I can never afford to miss out even the smallest chance to surprise my customers and to create a “wow” experience. As Benjamin Franklin says, “Well done is better than well said.”

It was 16th February 2018. And our calendar said that today was the day that we were waiting for. Yes. Today, was the birthday of one of our repeating customers. (We keep track of each and every customer that we interact and transact with. Every customers’ birthday, is with us – marked out on our calendars.) So, as a gift, I had already sent him something that he was looking forward to since a long time. I knew he had ordered my latest book “Be Successful – Thrive Exponentially Beyond Excellence” just a week before his birthdate. I was well aware of the fact that his birthday is just a few days away. How could I miss that amazing chance? I cancelled his order immediately as I received it. As it is “exclusively” available only on adityabhavsar.com (and it’s partner sites) it wasn’t hard to cancel his order.  The reason that I mentioned while cancelling his order was as simple as it seems, “Product out of stock, please check back in a while.” He was quite unhappy with this, but I never wanted to lose this chance to create a “Wow” experience.

Sure enough, on his birthday, his bell rang – “Ding Dong.” And seeing his local postman with the book, firstly, he was puzzled and then speechless after seeing the birthday wish letter attached to it. Let me share the exact letter that I sent him:

P.S. The name of the recipient is replaced (with his authorization) just to preserve his identity.

Hello Rahul!

Many Many Many Many Happy Returns of the Day!!!

Aditya from this side. I know it has been quite a long since we had our last conversation. But, guess what? We still remember you, and here’s your birthday gift that you were looking forward to for quite a long now. It’s wrapped up with love, care and the most consideration of the world – especially for you.

Please don’t send any thank you emails/messages back to us. Actually, this is the least we can do for the trust, love and time that you have invested in us. It is all about the love that we have shared so long and that far. And we don’t accept any thanks from the people whom we love – and you are on the top of that list.

The moment he received his book, he called me – it was quite obvious. “Aditya…” his voice was shaking and it didn’t took much for me to understand how overwhelmed he was with joy and happiness. It wasn’t at all about the book, neither it was about the money. It was all about the love and care that we transacted altogether. It was all about the feeling that he too is been taken care of.

“Thank You so much. Thank You so much. I can’t imagine how can I thank you Adi…”

“As written in the letter – thank you messages are not accepted from family mates in any format – written/text/voice.”

We both started laughing like anything.

“From then, he has been our lifetime customer.” I concluded.

Pranav was listening to this very keenly, and suddenly he said, “Isn’t that interesting?”

“Hahaha! It indeed is Pranav.”

Guess what?
“If you can love your customers, more than your products – that is when your business thrives.”

Also see, “How To Build a Brand that’s unshakeable and irreplaceable?”