What would the best company in the world do?

I attended a conference yesterday. Among the many interesting points was the power of the Master Mind, where two (or more) people get together to inspire each other and develop brilliant ideas.

The speaker gave an example from one of these Master Mind sessions that started with the rather empowering question of:

“What would the best company in the world do?”.

More specifically, “what would the best [company type] in the world do?” adding in your company’s type or sector where appropriate. The great thing about this, is that it can be applied to almost every company, every business, every enterprise.

Here was the real life example:

What would the best flower delivery company in the world do?

The company in question was run by John, a guy who knew nothing about flowers, and nothing about flower arranging. But that was fine, he didn’t need to. What he did need to know, is what would the best flower delivery company in the world would do.

Yes, one can suggest that knowledge about flowers, seasonality, garden design, occasion matching, and so on, is all useful, but probably best kept for a customer facing role, which John is not. He’s the boss, which for a small flower delivery service, also means the marketing manager too.

Over a few hours, the Master Mind group and he finalised a process in answering “what would the best flower delivery company do?”. This was it:

1. Email confirmation

When you call to make an order (you can also order online), you get an email confirmation that details the flowers, the recipient’s name, the address, your preferred message, the arrival date, together with the confirmed price.

It’s a little thing, but if any of those details are incorrect, the flowers could end up at another address, addressed to the wrong person, or flowers that don’t match the occasion. Written confirmation starts to give you peace of mind.

2. The flowers you ordered, by the person arranging your flowers

On the day before dispatch, you’re reminded again of your pending order, together with a picture of the flowers being held by one of the florists, signed off with their name.

All of a sudden, things are getting personal. There are your flowers. There’s the person who arranged them. And clear as day, is their name. And they know yours. A strong sense that this person cares washes over you.

3. The deliverer of happiness

On the day of dispatch, before the driver turns their engine on, they send a text or email to you saying:

Hi Iain,

I’m delivering your flowers today to [address], and should be with [recipient] by around 11am.

Any questions, please let me know.

Thanks,

Danny
Deliverer of happiness

He’s not the driver – that wouldn’t do his role justice!

4. But wait, no-one’s at home

Danny arrives at the recipient’s address, flowers in hand, but no-one’s at home upon ringing the door bell. His plan B is a neighbour. So he walks back to his van, puts the flowers back in (he doesn’t want to walk up to the neighbour flowers in hand and get their expectations up, as the flowers won’t be for them, and he doesn’t want to be the deliverer of disappointment).

He knocks on the neighbour’s door, Matt answers, and he asks Matt if he can accept delivery of his neighbour’s flowers, to which he agrees.

Danny walks back to the van, and in a separate compartment, gets out an envelope and card upon which is written “World’s Best Neighbour” and a hand written note from Danny thanking him for accepting the flowers. He also pulls out a small box of branded luxury chocolates, which he hands to Matt together with the card. The flower delivery company’s details are written on the back of the chocolates and contact details in the card.

Matt takes delivery of the flowers, and leaves with a smile on his face with full readiness to use the florist for himself should he need to do so.

Danny emails you to say he’s left the flowers with a neighbour, Matt, and that your recipient should get hold of them when they get in later that day.

5. The kicker

Almost all flowers we buy from the shop come with flower food. But flowers don’t need food straight away. That’s like getting your caffeine hit when you’re at the peak of your performance during the day (coffee’s for when you’re starting to lag!).

So, the next day, the florist sends your recipient the necessary flower food, so it arrives about 3 days after they received the flowers. A little note tells them that those flowers can last even longer with this small delivery. The recipient keeps their flowers fresh. They are reminded about the gift you sent them 3 days ago. They also know which service they’ll be using when they want to send flowers.

What would the best company in the world do?

The solution is a strong combination of great marketing (in this case, excellent referral strategy), and brilliant customer service (both on and offline). Anyone can send flowers. Few can send them in this way.

Create a process. Consistently follow it. Measure its success.