The Tribune

By D’Arcy Rahming

As I go about my day, I frequent a number of businesses. Being a married man with children, it also means I have relationships with businesses that involve my wife and children. Yet here it is. Yesterday, I celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary, yet not one business thanked me for my loyalty by giving me some kind of greeting with a gift.

What that means to me is that in terms of real customer service, the business community is not there yet. As bad as the economy has been, you would think businesses are going that extra mile to please customers. But we are still not paying that kind of attention. Let’s see which businesses would have impacted my day.

Certainly, places that specialise in breakfast. I could easily have been swayed to someone offering me boil fish in the morning, but as I had not planned it, I ate what was in the cupboard. Similarly, a food store or deli could have had extra business from me if they had called or written in advance saying that they had the fresh fruit of my choice. Or, better yet, my favourite meal on sale just for me. I did not even need a sale, just a notice.

Then there is my laundromat. They could have told me that they know I want to look sharp for my wife today, and offered to dry clean my best suit. I would have made sure that happened.

Then, of course, there’s lunch and dinner, but I will not hit you with the obvious. I have to go from place to place. What if the gas station I frequented offered to have my car cleaned while giving me a fill up? I am almost certain that I would have taken them up on that offer this week. And the list goes on of the services that are used daily.

Then there is the event itself. I have used florists from time to time (although my wife would argue far too infrequently). Anniversary cards, gifts of all kinds from all the different stores, I have used them. For example, a jewellery store might offer me some kind of reminder to get a gift for my wife. If they had been educating me throughout the year on fine jewellery, then suddenly sprung a reminder to me and made a suggestion, they were likely to get my sale. Imagine if they had some kind of short-term layaway plan that began weeks ago and culminated in my anniversary.

Finally, charity and alumni gifts miss out on this opportunity as well. I would have been open to someone saying: ‘Why not give a gift in honour of your 25th anniversary?’ Some small certificate or plaque would have freed up even my wallet. So let’s get it together as businesses. Everybody gets the Easter sales, etc. Let’s make it more personal.

NB: D’Arcy Rahming holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. A lecturer at the College of the Bahamas, Mr Rahming has clients in general insurance, retail, the health and medical fields, sports federations and financial services. To receive his marketing newsletter FREE go to http://darcyrahming.com