My youngest child, a seven-year old we like to call “H” had been begging his mother and I for a particular toy, Pokemon Black & White Reversible Large Plush – Tepig. 
I would have to say I am not at all a fan of Pokeyman, as I like to call it but H was going to pay for the toy all we had to do is either pick it up for him or take him to get it. H was remarkably patient with us as we put him off to concentrate on other things like our jobs, school and shopping for groceries. Jaunts to the toy store are not a normal mid-week event.
We made a decision to see if we could purchase this toy online. As I went to order the toy the in stock status changed from good to bad. And that’s when the panic kicked in. If you have ever seen the look of disappointment on a young kid’s face it pretty much goes beyond heartbreak. Every disappointment has a finality to it when you are seven.
We had already visited and/or phoned several Targets and ToysRUses (ToysRUsi?) to no avail. Heartache was looking inevitable. My wife called one last ToysRUs in our area. When I say in our area I mean a 25-minute drive without DC metro traffic. After being on hold for around 10-minutes the clerk had one in hand. We immediately had her put it on hold, the catch was they could only hold it until the store closed.
After a quick dinner and homework session H, his older sister K and I jumped in the ancient Jeep and headed out on an adventure to one find this ToysRUs and to purchase Tepig, did I mention I really don’t like Pokemon, to complete Mr. H’s set of reversible Plush Pokemon. We finally get there, back-up on the Beltway, surprise, surprise, and wait in line to speak with customer service. H has his Tepig in hand and we take a few minutes to peruse some of the aisles in the store feeling relieved. (See Viddy – http://viddy.co/spikep/video/more-toy-shopping)
On the way home, thankfully much more quickly due to the unusual lack of Beltway traffic, I started thinking about how much as parents we go out of the way to please our children. Dare I say spoil them and for what, nothing more than the satisfaction that our children are happy. I also thought about how if we applied this same ethic to our business things might go a little more smoothly. Happy customers keep using the service, unhappy ones move on.
There was a time when people often went the extra mile without thinking about it. It was just the way things were. Nowadays we have to often cajole people into staying a few minutes late just to complete a job. We forget that we have internal clients too. Not just our bosses but other departments and stakeholders also. For some businesses these are the clients we really need to “spoil” and develop positive relationships with.
Right now I work for a professional hockey team, customer satisfaction is heavily influenced by on-ice performance, there isn’t a lot I can do to change that but I can go out of my way to make sure that the areas I am responsible for meet their needs. I can bend over backwards to help other departments to ease the burden of loss for fans of the team. I should want to do it not because it will make me look good in the eyes of my peers and bosses but because I know with a little extra effort I can help someone else reach whatever goal they have.
In the end it boils down to treating our business and all the parts that go with it as if it was our own child, nurture, grew, develop, love and definitely go out of the way on occasion to make sure it is happy.
