Add Value Even When It’s Free

As you know I live in the Nashville TN USA area and we recently had a flood that was the worst non hurricane flood in U.S. history. With about 1.1 billion in damages and over 30 lives lost it was a very tragic event.

The Lean Way Consulting is currently working with Caudle Veterinary Clinic and while Caudle wasn’t hit by the flood the neighborhood the clinic served did get hit hard. The Lean Way Consulting does an exercise with our clients where we ask two questions; “what can you do that will help your clients” and “if you were a client how would you like to be treated.” Caudle did this exercise after the flood and came up with great ways to help the community. As a result Caudle Veterinary Clinic started doing several things the other veterinary clinics in the area did not do.

They boarded flood victim pets – These pets that were either separated from their owners or pets that did not have a known owner. They did this free of charge until the owner was found or there was someone that was willing to adopt the pet.

They kept their community informed – They made daily postings to the community online forum and their Facebook page to update pet owners on the latest from metro Nashville.

They helped out the police – Caudle Veterinary Clinic helped metro Nashville find homes for dogs that were abandoned.

They became a resource for information – When there were questions about pets Caudle Vet Clinic was the place to go to find out information. The manager even gave some people her personal cell phone number to help them during off hours.

All these the things that Caudle Veterinary Clinic did cost them time and money but they did it for free. They did it because that’s what the customer found valuable at the time. It was hard enough for people to deal with the lose of their homes and property and Caudle made it easier for people and their pets to reunite.

How did this effect them? Caudle has been featured on local news at least two times in the last month since the floods. The entire community now sees Caudle as the preferred veterinarian in the community. And their business for this month is tracking over 30% better than June of last year.

By doing what adds value to the customer even if it’s not making money it is almost always the right decision. How do you add value to your business? What have you done for your customers recently? If you could provide more value to your customers how would you know?