A few weeks ago, I was in a store looking for new tile for my bathroom. As I was looking over the selection, I was distracted by the distinct smell of cookies baking. Mmmmm, cookies, I thought. It didn’t matter that it was 10:30 in the morning. I wanted some and appreciated the thoughtfulness of the store to bake cookies for its customers. It was such a nice touch!
The next Saturday, I went back again to narrow down my tile selection. Since it was the same day of the week and the same time of day, I was looking forward to getting some fresh baked cookies. Alas, there was no aroma and no cookies. “What, no cookies today?” I asked one of the sales guys. “Sorry, we made them all yesterday,” he responded. Bummer. I was looking forward to them.
When I arrived at the store the following Saturday morning to place the order for my tile, I was certain that there would be cookies. I was starting to get hungry, so a cookie would have been a nice hold over until lunch (please don’t judge my eating habits). Alas, there would be no cookies on that trip either. Again I was bummed (and hungry).
Consistency is very important. Once you set a standard with your customers, you absolutely have to maintain it. Otherwise they will begin to expect that standard every time and if you don’t live up to it they will be disappointed. I never would have expected to receive cookies in a tile store, but once they delighted me with them the first time, I expected them every time I went to the store. And when there were no cookies, I was disappointed. Had there been no cookies on the first trip, I never would have missed them on any of the others.
Make sure you consistently delight your customers. Don’t be inconsistent with anything. It will only leave customers disappointed. If you can’t be consistent at doing something, you should rethink doing it at all.