Last week, I gave a "Galvanizing Your Business with Word of Mouth Marketing" workshop to ten CEOs and entrepreneurs who belong to Vistage, the world's largest peer learning organization for business leaders. It was a outstanding group that challenged me with excellent questions and shared their best practices for boosting repeat and referred business.
The group seemed particularly intrigued with the story of Helen Bernhard Bakery, my favorite Portland bakery founded in 1924. I'm a sucker for sweets and Helen Bernhard's delivers the goods. But, it's their friendly service that has made me one of their many customer evangelists. What gets me most excited about the bakery is the extra item that counterpeople throw in when I order twelve items or more. Sure, the "baker's dozen" is hardly a new or unique concept. But, few bakeries give away anything - likely a result of the ever increasing prices of flour, butter, milk, etc. But, Helen Bernhard is gaining much more than the cost of a item when it gives one away. Undoubtedly, I'm one of many customers who gets a big smile on my face when I get a complimentary items which further solidifies the goodwill I already have towards the company and motivates me to recommend the business to others.
In my Vistage presentation, I said that my loyatly to Helen Bernhard represents "the thirteenth cookie" effect. Attendees with both B-to-C and B-to-B companies got excited about this idea. One of them said that he would challenge his team to come up with an unexpected product or service that they could add to every order to delight customers. Others said this was a great idea and that they would do the same.
If you own a business or work for a company that has a successful "thirteenth cookie" way of creating customer evangelists, please let me know as I'm always looking to buzz about new examples.
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