For most of us, the holidays are the ultimate time for giving. We generally exchange gifts with beloved friends and family and even have Secret Santa exchanges in the office. What if we did this all year round?
Lately, I have been reading in the news that instead of executing direct sales tactics, companies are focusing on “being helpful.”
This tactic has been coined “Youtility” by social media marketing expert, Jay Baer, and involves putting the customer’s (or potential customer’s) needs first in the hopes of generating good will and loyalty.
One great example of this concept is Hilton Hotels.
Hilton created an @HiltonSuggests Twitter account which provides people with tips and answers to travel questions.
@HiltonSuggests does this even if you are not staying at one of their hotels with the idea that if you are looking for a hotel in the future, you will remember how helpful they were and stay with over other options.
Another example is often referred to by CEO, Tony Hseih, as The Zappos Pizza Story.
The story involves a Zappos customer service representative who provided pizza delivery information to a caller who was (unbeknownst to her) actually with the Zappos CEO at the time.
The phone rep, understanding that her goal was to make customers happy by being helpful, knew that she couldn’t sell the caller a pizza but did what she could to please the customer all the same.
Hseih reports that the caller is now a loyal customer for life!
This type of thing happens on a more personal level as well.
Pretty much everyone I know helps their friends and colleagues with job referrals.
I recently sent a couple of referrals to a friend of mine via another friend in the industry.
In addition, we often help one another with networking.
You need a contact at XYZ company, let me know and I am more than happy to make an introduction.
I would be paying it back (or forward) for the many times that my colleagues have done for this me!
And at Jenerosity Marketing, we try to do this via all of the daily posts that we share on our social media feeds, providing news and information that will be useful to you in your career and in your current business.
So, what are some ways that companies have helped you that has made you feel loyalty toward them?
As always, please share your stories in the Comments below…