Welcome to our July issue of our Spotlight on Service (SOS) newsletter designed to help those of us looking for ways to improve their service culture and customer experience We’re thrilled to have you with us on this journey and, in this months edition, we’re all about the “Purple Cow”.
Those of you who know us well will appreciate how central this theme runs through everything we do here at FIT….so read on to find out how you can become the standout Purple Cow in your field.
Show Up and Stand Out in Your Field
Unsolicited feedback is often extreme—either highly positive or negative. People rarely comment on average service. The term “remarkable” signifies something worthy of a remark, like a testimonial, a five-star review, or a referral.
Inspired by Seth Godin’s book “Purple Cow,” (more on this further on) we adopted its philosophy in our business. Here’s how this concept can transform your life and business.
How to be a Purple Cow
People remember the extraordinary, whether good or bad. While it’s easy to get noticed by being annoying or outrageous, purple cows stand out for positive reasons. They captivate attention, spark curiosity, make people smile, and are memorable.
Being a purple cow doesn’t mean becoming an infuriating extrovert. It means standing out from the crowd in meaningful ways. This can be through subtle yet remarkable actions. For example, you could:
- Become an expert listener.
- Go the extra mile to be understanding.
- Maintain positivity in difficult times.
- Seek win-win opportunities.
- Smile more often.
These skills are learnable and can significantly impact you and those around you.
Another way to embrace Purple Cow thinking is to identify them in your daily life. Purple cows are rare but noticeable. They are the ones who help in a crisis, say the right thing at the right time, show genuine care, and leave a lasting positive impression. They compel you to smile, say thank you, or leave a great review.
While I love Seth Godin’s book, my understanding of the Purple Cow philosophy comes from observing people who consistently create positive experiences. These individuals make a big difference right there on the frontline and ensure they “show up and stand out in their field,”…. just like a purple cow!
Become Your Own Publicity Agent – Shout About Your Successes!
In my 45-year career, I’ve learned there’s no room for playing small or letting others overshadow you. When it comes to celebrating your triumphs, you must be your own advocate.
Hard work, patience, resilience, and commitment pay off when reaching for the stars. Why not shout and shine when you succeed? Early on, I realised that no-one but me would push me to centre stage or raise the curtain for my applause. If it was to be, it was up to me.
Lesson #1 here is simple: when you achieve something wonderful, be your own publicity agent and let the world know. Success breeds success, and positive attitudes are contagious—make sure yours is worth catching. Be brave, bold, proud, and silence the naysayers.
So, here’s a few of our milestone events in recent months:
- During and after the pandemic, we pivoted and repurposed our content into online versions of our classroom workshops resulting in a brand new “Caring for Customers” blended learning programme. . This created a valuable resource that continues to benefit our customers with blended learning, ongoing coaching, and new recruit induction.
- Pre-pandemic, we enjoyed our most financially successful period ever.Despite ongoing upheavals in the economy and training space since that time, we’re on track to achieving these targets again.
- ‘We’ve increased our journey into the UK Housing sector, delivering customer service solutions and culture change programmes to social landlords, including Haringey Council and Black Country Housing Group.
- We’re back in Manchester, working with Bupa to create world-class sales solutions and customer experiences in both the Intermediary and SME Direct parts of the UK’s leading private health insurance provider.
- Within FIT we recently welcomed Mary Thomson, our new Marketing Executive, who will ensure you see more of us on LinkedIn in the coming weeks and months. A huge FIT welcome to Mary.
Lesson #2: You can’t have a million-pound dream with a minimum-wage work ethic.
The Power of One-Percent Improvements
In our experience as trainers, we’ve seen how a one-percent improvement can make a one-hundred-percent difference. When these small gains accumulate, the impact can be phenomenal. This philosophy, known as the “aggregation of marginal gains,” was used by Sir David Brailsford to drive the success of the British cycling team. We refer to these small but significant improvements as “one-percenters” or “purple-cow-wows!”
In each issue of this newsletter, we’ll share practical purple-cow-wows that you can apply to your life and business. These high-value tips can make a real difference:
Wow #1: If You Don’t Care, They Won’t!
If you manage a sales team, a call centre, a customer service department, or oversee any group of people, your attitude will rub off on them. If you are enthusiastic and committed, so will they be. Your behaviour, ethics, and ideas will be mirrored by your team. If you believe in delivering remarkable customer service, your team will too.
Wow #2: Learn to Listen
There’s no better feeling for a customer than being heard. As someone once said, “Most people listen to reply; others listen to understand.” The latter type of listener is far more appreciated. Make an effort to be a better listener today and notice the difference it makes.
Stay tuned for the next issue when we’ll include more one-percenters!
Book Review
Purple Cow by Seth Godin
If not my favourite business book, this is certainly in the top three, and by far the one I refer back to the most. It states the obvious truth in a remarkable way: that traditional marketing is dead and to succeed in today’s fast-paced business world you need to stand out from the ordinary crowd.
The book uses lots of case-study style examples of businesses that have mastered the art of standing out, while others have remained the same and faded away. As the title suggests, it uses the analogy of a purple cow being noticed among the herds of boring, everyday cows out in the fields. While cows rarely get a mention in our general conversations, that one certainly would, and news of its existence would soon spread.
If you’ve been bored by other business books, this one will buck the trend. It is short, easy to read, full of inspired ideas on every page and in places quite challenging.
Three of my favourite take-outs from the book are:
- Who is the leader in your marketplace?
- What one thing would make them even better? Why not do that? The riskiest thing you and your company can do right now is to not take any risks at all.
- Very good is bland. Very good is ordinary. Very good is what people expect. Be remarkable – because the only difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little ’extra’!
Look forward to catching up with you again in next month’s Spotlight on Service (SOS).
Wishing you much success in the meantime,
Marie and the FIT team
PS – If you’d like to find out more about how we might help support your business to deliver world-class, Purple Cow service to your customers do feel free to book your 30 minute Discovery Call here https://firstimpression.training/DiscoveryCall30
