Bringing the WOW Factor to Everything You Do

I worked with an organization which puts on an incredible yearly event organized by a committee – which are members from and serving a group of non-profits. The purpose of this annual event is to showcase and support over 200 local non-profit associations. In addition to booths, they have races and other events and hundreds – yes hundreds of people participate.

At their request I spoke to the group some days before one of their events and tried to inspire them to bring “WOW” to their booths and their promotional literature and explanations. Here are some excerpts from my talk – which by the way was highly interactive.

I asked:

• What is WOW?
• What is the purpose of this organization?
• What makes an experience memorable?
• How do you create WOW?
• What are some of the factors that take something from ordinary to extraordinary?
• Can we go above and beyond?

Of course the answer was to create an experience that was unique, quality, with great attention to details and without skimping. The better the quality the more the WOW.

Events need to appeal to all five senses, they have to be unique and show your brand in its best light. It has to be special enough so that people go away talking about it and telling others they must be sure to attend next time.

Mediocre doesn’t excite. Mediocre cuts corners and “saves money” at the expense of losing new money. Mediocre picks cheap caterers because they are cheap. Mediocre says let’s not create a mess – whereas excellence says, let’s have a clean-up committee so that we can clean up the debris from balloons and other theme-related items.

Mediocre says: “let’s do the minimum we can get away with.” WOW says: “let’s make every aspect of this special and excellent.”

Wouldn’t you rather attend events that are filled with WOW?

WOW - Customer Service at its Best

During my travels recently to Dubai and Africa, everyone we met – but especially in Africa – whether in the hotel, the stores, or on Safari exuded the very best in customer service. Each person we encountered was gracious and pleasant, anxious to please. They were not phony, not condescending, but truly willing to be of service.

We tipped – A LOT!

Our guides were highly educated and well trained. Their goal was to provide us the most interesting experience we could achieve during the time we were in their care. They each went out of their way to find the right locations to show us the animals we wanted to see. For me it was always the lions. My niece, Gabrielle fell in love with the hippos.

In the dining halls, everyone catered to the specific needs or allergies of the guests. Learning about them, they remembered them meal after meal – never failing, for example, to create gluten free dishes for my niece.

Our agents at the airports made sure all the details were well handled and we got on the right planes (lots of little ones) at the right time.

Not only was it what they did – it was how they did it. It felt to me, always aware of and probably too critical of customer service – that this came naturally to them. They were proud of their jobs and pleased to please.

Compare that to how often we experience serving staff with attitudes that make us think they think they are doing us a favor.

Let’s bring back customer service – internal and external – at its best. Let’s really try to do our best.

WOW – excellence – again.  My perpetual theme.