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I know you often think about keeping your customers happy - and you’re right to do so. But have you ever thought about the opposite?

I mean, do your customers appreciate what you provide so much that they would be willing to sacrifice just so they could stay your customer? Would they be upset if you went out of business?

In the past, it wasn’t unusual for the drafting rooms of a few of the larger engineering firms here in Houston to be basically just drafty old warehouses, or whatever else happened to be available. In fact, the biggest firm (this was many years ago) used an old remodeled aircraft hanger that was affectionately (or disparagingly, depending on your point of view) called The Barn.

Now close your eyes and imagine with me, if you will, row upon seemingly endless row of men (yes, men – in those days there were very few, if any, female drafters), in white short-sleeved shirts and ties, pocket protectors jammed full, all hunched over their drafting tables, laboriously designing the infrastructure of modern day society. (OK, that last may be a bit melodramatic. But it’s still true – most of the stuff those guys engineered back then is still for the most part functioning just fine today, thank you very much!)

Quick question: What is it that keeps all engineering offices fully functional? Nope, not computers (sound of buzzer) – the idea of using a computer was laughable back then. Uh-uh – it’s not electricity either (again, sound of buzzer – followed by sound of hammer repeatedly hitting buzzer); you can still function pretty well in the dark, you know. Hey, you finally got it (sound of cheering): it’s coffee! (Except, of course, in Asia where it’s probably tea.)

According to legend (as told to me by someone who worked there at the time) there was this young woman at The Barn whose job was to keep the coffee flowing freely all day long. She was a sweet girl, naturally gregarious (which is a ten-dollar word for “friendly and easy-going”), and very well-liked (after all, she provided coffee – the lifeblood of drafting rooms everywhere).

(Yes, I know. The idea of a young woman’s choice of career being spent serving coffee to hundreds of men is largely passé now. Try not to judge this story by today’s standards – remember this was a while back.)

Well, one day she came to work unusually depressed, and within a few minutes, word got out that she had been laid off. The news spread like wildfire; talk about your angry mob (sound of angry rabble) – it nearly started a riot! I mean, you would have thought the entire drafting floor had been closed for business.

However, as luck would have it, this was a room full of *ahem* engineers – if anybody could come up with a solution, they could, right? Right (sound of more cheering)!

So here’s what happened.

Coffee had always been free. Now, however, the company had announced plans to install automatic coffeemakers (something fairly new at the time), which is why they didn’t need the young lady to serve coffee any more. Coffee would still be free, but the downside was that the men would have to *gasp* make their own coffee! The situation was intolerable (sound of disgruntled murmuring)!

Suddenly Aero, the Superhero Engineer a couple of the more enterprising fellows whipped out their trusty slide rules (hey, why use pencil and paper when you can use a slide rule! Who says engineers don’t rock!) and quickly calculated that if every man in the room chipped in just a few dollars per week, they could actually match her former salary!

So they offered her the deal and she quickly agreed. Voila! Problem solved! The universe as we know it was saved, and the heavens rejoiced. (In fact, I think the clouds actually parted and a particularly bright sunbeam shone down on the building at that specific moment. Or so they say.)

OK, now let’s consider what happened from a business point of view.

This woman’s “business” was being shut down, because the company found a cheaper way to provide the same product (the coffee, in case you’re having trouble following along). Her “customers” got so upset about her losing her business that they were willing to pay money to keep her in business!

It wasn’t that they couldn’t get coffee. No, it was the service – or more accurately, it was the whole routine of coffee with personal service and interaction she provided that they couldn’t get anywhere else.

So here’s the sixty-four dollar question: Do your customers feel that way about you?

After all, it ain’t just customer service any more; these days it’s customer experience.

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