You probably aren’t old enough to remember, but years ago Volkswagen had an advertising campaign that had the slogan "Think Small." At the time it was a classic case of "positioning" since most American Automobile makers were touting big cars. A recent client meeting and experience at a retail rental store reminded me of the importance for all of us to think small when it comes to making a difference in our business. For that reason I will also keep this short in keeping with that theme.

A jeweler I worked with wondered why his staff didn’t sell as well as he did. When we worked on benchmarking each of the steps in his lead conversion process we discovered one thing he did differently than his staff. When a jewelry store prospect had picked something out, especially for a female, he would ask one of his female sales clerks to display the chosen item on their hand, wrist or neck so the prospect could see how it might look on their intended recipient. His conversion rate was significantly higher than his staff, and after implementing this step with everyone, sales climbed appreciably.

At the rental store I purchased a dolly to move an old console TV from our basement. After paying for it, the clerk, a young man, took me to the item, showed me how it worked, demonstrating, and then actually wheeled it to my vehicle and help me put it in my van. I didn’t expect that. In fact when I returned it he met me at the door. I fully expect that if he’d seen me unloading it he would’ve help me do that. I don’t know if I will ever need their services again, but I can tell you that if ever I do need to rent something they will be my first call.

It’s the little things that make a tremendous difference with our customers. I’ll bet you can think of your favorite store or places you do business with and the reasons you do is because of the small things they pay attention to.

So this year think small. Think of the little things you may not always pay attention to but that your customers will notice.

Systems provide the solution for making sure you and your staff get the small things right. To get your staff to perform predictably and consistently you need to have written documentation in place that guarantees the performance you expect and your customers want will be repeated every time.