Recently, my wife and I purchased a new vehicle (well it was new for us, so that is all that matters). The experience started off fantastic, then hit the bottom, I walked away, but ultimately came back and sealed the deal. The hitting the bottom part was largely in part due to expectations, but the fantastic part had to do with the start and the finish.

Like most car dealerships these days, they have a room set up for the kids to play in while mommy and daddy are busy looking at cars, test driving and signing their lives away (well not really). What most car dealers do not expect is a family to roll up in there with almost 4 year old triplets and have them cut loose on them. Needless to say that is what happened with us, and the whole staff their catered to our children’s every need. It was amazing, they were extremely busy, but too the time out of their work schedule to entertain my kids. Now I know that each and every person there touches the sale in some way shape or form and want to do the right thing in making it happen, but getting my kids snacks ( I mean cutting up an apple and pretzels) to giving them each their own water bottle to coloring books, they really went the extra mile.

This was almost too good to be true, and when things headed south, they still entertained my children even though there was a good chance I was headed out the door in the same vehicle I came in with, which I did. Several phone calls later and a trip back to the dealership, this time with all 4 children (yeah, brought the baby for good measure), we were back in business and the staff picked right back up in entertaining the triplets where they left off the last time. The children were entertained, we bought the vehicle, everyone got what they wanted and everyone was happy (especially the dealership since they got my money).

The finish part of them going the extra mile came a day or two later. Out of the blue, we received a phone call from the president of the dealership, we were unable to get to the phone in time, but he left a very long and sincere message. He thanked us for purchasing a vehicle from him, but more importantly, he thanked us for affording him the opportunity to spend time with our children (was he sure he had the right kids I thought, but I knew he did). It was something that I have never received from any car dealer, let along the president. He went on to say how he was so enamored by them and even offered up his and his wife’s babysitting services if we ever needed them (they have a 5.5 year old). He did not know me from Adam, but he went that extra mile because that is who he is and how much he cares about his customers.

Moral of the story here is that even though it may seem like you are not going to get the sale, it does not mean that you should treat your customer any differently. You should treat them the same regardless and you may be surprised by the outcome, who knows, you may have landed a repeat customer when you thought you lost them.