Winter weather has finally arrived in Jackson, Michigan. Snow, ice, wind chills below zero, the whole nine yards. Every trip to the bank means sloshing through the slush that accumulates at the curb. My shoes and boots are a mess.

I hate slush.

I can deal with the snow and the cold. I just don’t like the slush.

I also have a big parking lot – 58 spaces. That’s the potential for a lot of slush. But not if I can help it. We go through tons of bags of salt and multiple shovelings to try to keep the lot as clean as possible. My snowplow guy knows I want it plowed at any sniff of snow, far less snow than his other clients. He charges me a little more, but it is worth it.

It isn’t just my hatred of slush that causes this behavior. It is my love of my customers. I figure I am not the only one who hates slush. I want to send a strong signal to those people that we will keep our parking lot as slush-free as possible.

You don’t think that matters? People make decisions daily on where to go and what to do based on tiny little factors like this. Your attention to details (or lack thereof) is sending signals to potential customers Every. Single. Day.

My customers might not even be consciously aware of why they like going to my store in the winter. But I am certainly going to make sure I eliminate as many possible things they don’t like.

When you are trying to give your customer the best possible Experience, it starts when they park the car. If you can control that Experience, you need to control that Experience. These things do matter and do make a difference.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Ask yourself this question… Which costs more? A dozen bags of salt or a lost customer?

PPS One other benefit is that we rarely have that situation where our carpets are soaked from all the slush dragged in. Don’t those blowers you see at the big box stores just make you feel dirty?