How do you differentiate yourself?

My friend Sharon McGukin is a professional florist, teacher and now author. I recently had the privilege of working with Sharon again at a “Christmas in July Design Show” put on by one of my wholesale distributors in Phoenix, Arizona. The wholesalers merchandising and wares were all beautifully displayed. The staff was friendly and well informed about their products and gave great customer service. It was a real treat to be working here to promote my products for them. It was well over 100 degrees outside yet Sharon, being the consummate professional never let this bother her. She went right to work on designing arrangements for the many vignettes she would create for the audience the next evening.

It’s hard enough to work in a desert environment and think about Christmas. Yet, Sharon created the illusion of the holiday season with her many dozen arrangements. Sharon not only shared her design ability, she illuminated the audience with inspiration and her marketing ideas, sales tips and business philosophy for over two hours.

After the program was completed Sharon greeted guest at a table set up with her new book entitled, “Flowers of the Heart, a bride’s guide to choosing flowers for her wedding.” It is a beautifully written and photographed volume that can be used by both florist and brides. The book illustrates the important element flowers bring to this special day in people’s lives.

Customers came up to Sharon to purchase her book. She warmly greeted them and did something that I had never experienced before at a book signing. Sharon not only inscribed each book with a personalized message, she would caringly slip the book into a perfectly fitted velum bag and then, tied a quality pink satin ribbon into a bow. Embossed on the ribbon in silver ink was the title of the book, “Flowers of the Heart” in the same style script as the book cover. Then with a smile Sharon handed each person their book and thanked them for their purchase.

Wow!!! This was most likely the best example of customer service I have ever seen in some time. Sharon could have just signed the book and handed it to the purchaser. However, she wanted to make the purchase of her book special. She wanted to differentiate herself from other authors. Sharon created a special bond between herself and the purchaser of her book similar to the bond shared between a bride and groom. The purchaser not only received a book they received an experience and a gift. This example made me wonder what ways each of us could do the same to make the experience of buying our wares or services different from our competitors?

To purchase Sharon’s book e-mail her at info@sharonmcgukin.com or follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sharonmcgukin