One of our many great clients is Mountain View Tire, a 29-store tire and automotive service company in southern California. The other day I was adding testimonials to the new website we just built for them when I saw this one:

"I wanted to make it known that I received exceptional service beyond anything I could have ever expected from your [store] in Burbank, California.

I was heading to Lebec, California and blew out my tire just north of Burbank. I called the Magnolia [Road] location and spoke with Leville Slayton. He dispatched Jacob Pomaville to my location where he retrieved the tire from my vehicle, brought it back to the store, replaced the tire, and repaired the wheel.

Amid this stressful situation, Jacob had a cold drink ready for me and, beyond that, actually purchased two jack stands from a nearby auto parts store, as neither one of us had them. I wanted to share this story with you as it is a rarity, especially in the Los Angeles area. They have secured me as a new customer with their exceptional service and care."

I know the folks at Mountain View Tire pride themselves on providing "the WOW experience" for their customers, but the fact that Jacob brought the stranded customer a cold drink just blew me away! It shows that he was thoughtful enough to anticipate what the customer may have needed, given what he was experiencing: the flat tire, the hot sun, being stranded, the feelings of frustration! (You've probably been there. So think how you'd feel if Jacob showed up, not only to fix your tire, but with free refreshments!)

The customer needed relief, both physically and emotionally, and Jacob was intuitive enough - or trained well enough - to understand and react to those needs. Nothing calculated. Nothing out of the Mountain View marketing plan. Just a 99-cent bottle of water or pop that "secured me as a new customer." Perfect. And Mountain View Tire's testimonials are filled with examples of how they've gone above and beyond to serve customers.

What about your company? How are you delivering "cold drinks" to your customers? Again, it's not something that has to be "part of the plan," but, for it to work on a sincere, memorable human level, the question "how can I best serve my customer today" needs to be part of your company's DNA. When that question permeates your culture and your staff works every day to answer it, you'll garner the type of loyalty and earn the good word of mouth that Mountain View Tire does.