Lasting impressions are sweet

It doesn’t show up in all our marketing literature, but occasionally I mention that ‘our cookies leave a lasting impression, long after the last crumb is gone’. We don’t keep fully documented case histories on every delivery, just anecdotes gathered over the years. One of those anecdotes placed an order with us last week.

It was the kind of phone call that virtually any business owner loves to get. It seems this person had received our cookies as a gift some five years ago. They came in a special promotional box that was a one-time purchase. He did not keep the box or our info, but remembered the cookies.

Now at a new company, he’s in a position to send out gifts to clients and prospects. He remembered Anna’s Gourmet Goodies, did some searching, digging, and found us. He was excited. Frankly, I was ecstatic. Not about getting an order, or a new client, but because our core mission, what we do at Anna’s Gourmet Goodies, played out in real life. Our cookies made someone very happy and they remembered that long after the last crumb was gone.

I think there’s a lesson in here for all of us, no matter where you work or what type of business you may own or run. People sometimes remember what you tell them. But they definitely remember how you make them feel. Focus on the experience.

All of us are bombarded with products and messages every day – more than we care to count. In the end, we might not remember not the message or the product, but we are likely to remember how the experience made us feel. When we first tested the idea of cookie gifts coming up on ten years ago, one of my testers told me, “I felt good about the product before I ever opened the box. The presentation, the story, everything about it made me feel good”.

That concept is something we apply not only to the people who open our gifts and taste that cookie or brownie for the first time, but to the people and companies who place the orders as well. We want them to feel good about the experience of interacting with Anna’s Gourmet Goodies. I have no idea when the next recipient might become a customer. Or when the next customer might refer someone else, or leave their company and recommend Anna’s Gourmet Goodies at their new place of work.

Successful business owner want every customer to become a raving fan. It would be nice, but I don’t know anyone who can control or predict that with absolute precision. We’re all human and unpredictable at times. What we can do, is to control the experience. We can treat everyone in a professional, kind and caring manner so that, in the majority of cases, they feel good about the experience with our company. Something you can also implement at your company.

Of course it helps when you are in the business of making cookies and brownies that taste as good as ours do. And if the taste and the experience match up to create a permanent memory, well that’s a pretty sweet outcome no matter how you measure it.