Tim is a waiter at Ruby Tequila’s. He cuts up with his customers. When you order a margarita, he brings the ingredients to your table and shakes it up while dancing for you. His table-side guacamole dance is unparalleled.
Tim befriends his ‘regular’ customers on Facebook. It’s not creepy because he’s already built rapport in the restaurant. If he hasn’t seen them in awhile, he leaves a message on their wall, “Miss you guys, come see me soon.” And they do. Tim stands out.
Room’s-To-Go number 1 ranked salesman has an iPad. In it, he keeps the birthday’s of people who have bought furniture from him, and the birthday’s of their family members.
Can you imagine getting a message 2 weeks prior to your kid’s birthday? Johnny is turning 12 in a couple of weeks. Just wanted to wish him a happy birthday. Give me a shout if he wants to upgrade his bedroom furniture.
He doesn’t push the issue; it’s once and it’s fairly subtle. It works.
There’s a reason that Tim and the Rooms-To-Go-Guy out perform their peers, and it’s doesn’t require an exhaustive effort.
Standing out is simple. And here’s a tip… If you efforts to stand out involve making the lives of others better you just enhanced your ability to stand out tenfold. There’s no excuses anymore.
…Our world is changing. You can change with it or you can succumb to the lizard brain. I hope you remain a cog in a broken machine because that means there’s more opportunities for me. But, if you want to get ahead — if you want to change the world — let me know how I can help.
I am not saying these methods do not work. I am certain they do. But nor do I think they are particularly unique. And I don’t think it is standing out in any special way. These sort of people want my money, plain and simple. That could not possibly care less about my son’s birthday, and Tim doesn’t really miss me. I know it, and he knows it. He wants my tips, so he dances around and pretends he likes me when I come to his restaurant.
And that’s fine. Nothing wrong with wanting tips. Nothing wrong with selling furniture. But let’s keep in perspective. In neither of the above examples is anyone standing out because they are driven to make lives any better. They are driven to make money, and that is absolutely all there is to their actions.
@Ty – Your comments are not unfounded. Certainly both guys desire to make money; however, doesn’t doing goofy table side dances and remembering my name enhance my experience at the restaurant? (Provided the service is still solid, absolutely).
The post wasn’t meant to be linear in that Tim and the Rooms-To-Go guy make lives better (that was my tip at the end) — but to show that something really simple enables them to stand out from other waiters/furniture salesman.
Thanks for contributing here. Hope to see more of you in the future!
Yes. Those things do enhance your experience within their respective spheres, no doubt. And your consumer experience would be less pleasant if not for those actions.
I guess in the end I sometimes cringe when people are inauthentic in order to make themselves stand out in the ways you mentioned, and in my personal experience, (from which I respond), people in those situations tend to be bad at faking it.
But…if someone truly can appear naturally pleasant, even if they are not feeling it, without giving off the “I want to serve the CRAP out of your today!” feel, more power to them. Better than than someone who is mean, I suppose.