Surprising Your Customers

Last week my 14-year-old got her braces off. After several years of teeth expanders, retainers, and braces, as of last week, she has beautiful, straight teeth.

At the end of her orthodontic appointment, the staff at the clinic sang to her, a lively tune called "You've Got Your Braces Off!" They gave her a helium-filled balloon that said "Congratulations!" They also gave her a treat bag filled with foods that had been forbidden when her teeth were covered in wire: microwave popcorn, a Snickers bar, lots of chewy Sunburst candies, and other sugary delights. 

All that fanfare was a grand surprise. We had no idea my daughter's new grin would be celebrated so creatively. It made us laugh, smile, and nearly cry.

As a business writer, what can you do to surprise your readers? What kind of unexpected treats can you provide to bring them delight? Here are a few ideas:

1. Deliver early. If a customer is expecting your proposal by the end of the day on Friday, get it there on Thursday or early on Friday.

2. Do the work for your readers. For example, instead of asking "How do you want to handle this situation?" offer several alternatives. Rather than writing "Call me to schedule," call your reader to schedule. Instead of sending a link to a long document that you know your reader will print, send a printed copy.

3. Send useful information to customers, clients, executives, peers, and others. "Here's an article on _____, which I know you are interested in" is a welcome message. Marketing expert Marcia Yudkin recently sent a valuable article, "33 Keys to Thriving During a Recession," to all her newsletter subscribers--and invited them to pass it on. Enjoy Marcia's article. I am happy to pass it on to you.

4. Surprise your readers with something of value: helpful tips, a calculation chart, a relevant quotation, a useful analysis. In my newsletter article, "Add Zing to Your Writing," I attached a PDF of a card-sized reminder of the main points. It was worth the few minutes to make the card to be able to offer my readers an unexpected tool.

Do you have ideas for surprising your customer-readers? Please share them.

Lynn
Syntax Training

Comments

[Freelance article writer]

Wonderful tips Lynn...though they look simple but trust me they are quite effective in our business world.