I saw an article recently about the Ritz Carlton Hotel. It’s a perfect example of what needs to be done in order to court and cater to (and persuade) an affluent client base. This is exactly the way to keep your clients interested and involved with you and your product or service.

The Ritz Carlton Hotel has a policy that any employee (and I mean, any employee from the housekeeping staff to the desk clerks) can spend up to $2,000 a day (without prior authorization from management) to solve the problems or needs of any of their clients.

A business man was staying at the Atlanta Ritz Carlton and headed out to Hawaii for a very important meeting and presentation. He realized he had forgotten his laptop in Atlanta. Without his laptop, he had no presentation. He called the hotel and his call was routed to housekeeping who had informed him that they had found his computer.

The client asked them to send the computer by Federal Express. He explained that he had to have it the next day for his presentation.

Early the next morning the man went to the front desk to check on his delivery. When he got there, there was a woman from the housekeeping department of the Ritz Carlton of Atlanta waiting for him. She said, ‘This was too important.’

Will this man ever stay anywhere else when he’s in Atlanta? Doubt it. Will he tell this story to all of his friends? You bet he will. And his friends will tell their friends who will tell their friends. And the publicity and good will that was created by this one interaction will further ingratiate an already well respected organization in the mind of the clientle they cater to: the affluent.

Going above and beyond doesn’t mean you have to break the bank and spend $2,000 every time someone has a problem. . . After all, you’re not a major hotel chain with that kind of petty cash laying around. Going above and beyond can mean a simple note or a birthday card.

One of my coaching students, a financial adviser, recently told me a story about sending a birthday card to one of her EX clients. This was an EX client only because she was prevented from courting her due to a non-compete clause which was about to expire. My student followed up the birthday card with a phone call a few weeks later and the ex client (soon to be reinstated client) said to her, ‘You know, my husband’s financial adviser sent out a birthday card as well. But instead of sending me the birthday card, he sent it to my husband, whose birthday isn’t for seven months.’

Mistakes happen. But this was totally avoidable and costly for that other financial adviser.

Attention to detail, going above and beyond, simple pleasantries, even a kind word. . . all of these things not only make other people feel compelled to do business with you, but they make the recipient feel good. Funny thing is, they also have the added bonus of making the person giving them feel good.

Tags: NLP

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