A wise man once said to me, "You may think you're in the business of satisfying customers, but you're not. You're in the business of earning referrals. When your clients send friends and family to you, you've done far more than satisfy them."
Some of you may know tripleBsoftware's cool DMX-3000 software. It lets MX-3000 owners append their MX-3000 files with an onscreen menu of all the DVDs in their changers. Users can select a DVD just by touching its cover art. In the latest version, users can read a synopsis of the DVD, search for titles with an index, or easily select individual discs from a multi-disc set. When you see it in action, it's hard to remember that you're looking at an MX-3000 file. Yet there it is, all Mac-OSX-looking, right there on the remote.
The software is for sale of course, but the amazing thing is that the author didn't create it to make money. No, he had a good friend who owned several DVD changers and a huge library of DVDs. So the guy who owns tripleBsoftware told his buddy he'd help him out and write a little utility for choosing DVDs on the MX-3000. Version 2.0 of DMX-3000 is ready to launch any day now. When it does, you owe it to yourself to go take a look at it. The work involved in setting it up for your clients is probably too time consuming to be profitable for most installs, but that's not the point. The point is seeing this incredible functionality on a device that was never designed for this level of interactivity.
There are ten thousand shortcuts the developer could have taken that would have still resulted in a usable program for his friend. But instead, he went the extra mile and created something that, as one of the designers of the MX-3000, I would have never thought possible. But it turns out it is possible. So much so that when people visit my home, I sometimes tell them to pick up the remote and choose a movie without telling them how. Sure, they look puzzled at first, but I smile and say, "Just give it a shot."
No one has ever failed to find a movie they wanted and get it playing. And none of them has ever failed to ask how this magic is possible. We end up talking about the MX-3000, Universal Remote Control, my job, and usually, DMX-3000. Several friends are now MX-3000 users. I know at least one of them also uses DMX-3000.
But you don't have to spend hundreds of hours to go the extra mile for your clients. Much of the time, the extra mile is just a few extra steps. And in the current economic situation, those few extra steps can be the difference between having your clients refer friends and family to you, or not. That's advertising you can't buy. It's good will you can't invent. And it's pride you can't beat.
So when a job has you frustrated because the homeowner is finicky or some blunder has you over budget, never forget that even the most challenging job could be the one that lands you your next five clients. Get the slack out of those cables before you zip-tie them. Carefully straighten the components on the shelf if they're not rack-mounted. Add some Favorite Channel macros for the client's kids. The things that make your client's neighbors pick up the phone and call you are often not the things you put on the job spec sheet. No... the things that make for referrals are those extra steps, one at a time, that made the job human, and made the client trust that with you, his money was well-spent.
One at a time, those extra steps are what make up the extra mile.
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