Hello my friends!
As I write this, I’m on a crazy deadline. My book, Fascinate, is going to be republished soon. I’m looking for a whole crop of new examples to describe what makes a company fascinating.
I’d love to get your input— and potentially feature you in the book!
I’m looking for ridiculously smart and simple examples of how brands fascinate their customers and their teams. The more obscure the example, the better!
I want this book to be chock full of yowza-cool examples. The kind of simple-but-genius examples that make you say WOW.
Have you had a fabulously fascinating customer experience lately?
Does YOUR company create a rabid culture of engagement among team members
Quick examples of the type of thing I’m looking for:
- LEGO® takes production very seriously— only 18 out of every 1,000,000 pieces fail to meet the company’s high quality standard.
- Google® used goats to reduce their carbon footprint. Instead of mowing down the weeds and brush on their property, they brought in 200 goats to eat and fertilize the grass.
- After initial training, Zappos.com offers team members $3,000.00 to leave the company. Those who take the money never come back, but those who refuse the offer remain– wholly committed to the goals and culture of the company.
In the comments below, give me a quick description. Just let me know how a product or business used a fascinating insight to jumpstart sales, build loyalty, or get people talking.
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138 Comments
Hello Sally,
I am currently teaching English as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Indonesia. I have been able to improve my classes over the past few months by inviting and bringing in foreign tourists who are interested in visiting a local school to talk with and do a short q/a session with some of my students. Both sides-the tourists and the students-are able
to gain insight into the other (the tourist builds a better understanding about mannerisms and behaviours of the local Sundanese culture while the students build a better understanding of the utility of the English language) both sides can develop a connection between one another and have an extremely positive learning outcome together. If you would like more information please send me an email and I would be happy to get back to you.
I like the Doughnut Vault. They just make a certain amount of donuts each morning and then they close, and depending on popularity they may close early morning or later in the day. People line up in the morning to make sure they get their donuts. Plus, the DV from day to day changes what kinds of donuts they are making, posting the changed donuts on their web site. Plus, their location is tiny, with only a few customers fitting inside at the most at any given time, although they recently added a really cool looking retro van from which they also sell donuts. Finally, the donuts are incredibly good. http://thedoughnutvault.tumblr.com/
Emerged in one organization, I was fascinated about how many of the employees would just ‘do their thing’ in isolation with little appreciation of the impact or consequences that this was having on others and the business as a whole. I likened it to – learning how to drive a car. As a teenager, it’s exciting and overwhelming with all the things you have to do when you first get behind the wheel and what can happen is you are totally focused on the car right in front of you and are not aware of much else going on around you. As you build your confidence you start to look further afield, through the windscreen of the car in front, your peripheral vision is expanded, then further on you now look to the distance and can gauge what is going on a mile or two ahead and all around. When I was talking about this with a colleague, an ex-Sargent, he said, what they call it in the Army is – foreground, middle ground and distance (particularly important I suspect when monitoring the enemy). People in this organisation, looked mainly at the foreground resulting in lost opportunities, miscommunication, barriers and ineffective practices. When I realized, this was a significant issue in the business, I started to help expand people awareness surrounding the impacts and consequences of this behaviour and challenged them to look further afield. There has been a significant shift in people being more mindful and this has resulted in improved relationships and communication.
First off, I’m a raving fan of “Fascinate.” I started my company May 2014. My second opportunity to help a company, I used an opportunity you provided me, to deploy “Fascinate” with my small business client (10 employees). I loved taking them through the process – they loved it too. I used the tool as part of their first ever, strategic planning process. I was able to help them see where they were alike and different. How their triggers aligned with how their customers see them. We used this to help reinforce their customer service advantage and made it a part of their Re-Brand (launching soon).
Renaissance Member Gibson Insurance has a Parents Weekend to show their employees parents what a great decision they made to join Gibson!
One of the ways I used fascination as an advantage in my company recently was to look deeply into my work to see if, as someone with a Passion/Innovation advantage, I living up to all was capable of. I started my business in 2007, just months before the bottom dropped out of the architecture profession, and everyone’s profession, really. We survived “the big dip” and are still going strong! What made it AMAZING was when I started writing my book (Hacking the Earthship)and I got to feeling like I didn’t have all the tools I needed to make it really shine in my own toolbelt. I was at a Sustainability Institute (actually I was the host/emcee and wove all the speakers together) and I realized… They had the tools I needed! And I liked and respected them! So I decided to see if I could approach them to come on board and work with me on the book. 13 passionate experts fully delivered. And the book is selling out faster than I can pack up copies! It’s become SO much more than “just” about the earthships! (and will be a new book on designing and building your own tiny/cottage natural home hopefully by next year!) To me, outside of learning SO much from all these people and leveraging their expertise to build a better product, I’m also able to help promote the work of all of these people every time I celebrate their sharing with me! It really became a win-win for everyone involved! and it’s leading to great press and helping everyone grow their brands! All because I stepped out of my own way and decided to use my Passion to ignite other people’s fires and celebrate their expertise and my Innovation to think outside my own box ! I’m so happy I did!
Bed, Bath & Beyond has to have the best return policy I’ve ever witnessed. I know this from having gone through the exhaustive pursuit of espresso machines. They cheerfully took back 4-6 different machines and when I finally found one they didn’t offer, I bought it online from Whole Latte Love and the experience was almost 180 degrees the opposite.I openly and frequently tell people to go to Bed Bath & Beyond because of this difference. Recently I forgot my 20% off coupon when I was buying a descaling solution for my Gaggia super automatic espresso machine. I told the guy at checkout and he told me to bring the coupon in on my next visit along with receipt from current purchase without and they would cheerfully give me my 20% cash back on the spot which they did !
After having spent many years in retail, and as an entrepreneur, I have learned that excellent customer service is the most important aspect of any business. When I hit a snag in the job market I opened my own online retail store, Celebrate Milestones, that sold party favors, formals and gifts (in retrospect I should have had more than one website and spread the items out). I decided the best way to help my customers out was to take the example set in the movie “Miracle on 34th Street”. If I didn’t sell what the customer was looking for I would help them find it somewhere else. It was effective, and brought me many return customers, and referrals. I have since retired and closed the shop, but learned that good customer service never goes out of style.