What's Around Your Edges?

I experienced a pleasant surprise the other night; excellent service in a London gastropub.  Over the past few years, the usual antipodean supply of waitrons and bartenders has been supplanted by eastern Europeans who, whilst laudably keen, are suffering inevitable confusion from not fully understanding colloquial, real-time English and accompanying sense of ‘humour’.  Hopefully the resultant current service slump (much is barely perfunctory in nature) will be short-lived.

So I wandered into a place with a friend doing a half-price gourmet burger promo.  A trio of factors made my mealtime excellent.

I fancied some water to immediately quench my thirst whilst waiting for my drinks to come.  I asked for tap water (sometimes a life-risking manoeuvre in London!) and the response pointed me in the direction of the end of the bar, where there were a couple of water jugs, complete with fruit floating and plenty of empty glasses alongside. I could help myself.

After ordering my burger I realised that I really fancied something instead of chips.  The order slip had already gone to the kitchen whilst my drinks were being sorted when I asked if they’d alternatives.  Would I like mash?  A great suggestion and they went backstage to amend my order.

Then I noticed a pint pot on the bar, filled with water, coins at the bottom and a lemon floating on the surface.  It turned out to be their tip jar.  The lemon is there because if you balance your coin on it, you get to win the tips.  It’s one of those impossible bar-games, although I was assured that one-time, a fella won three times in a night. Urban myth methinks…!

So all three happenings combined to create a fantastic impression of the place, further confirmed when the food was good too.  Yet I thought that each item was a little, simple thing in itself.

When I’m dealing with my prospects/clients, what do I do around the edges to make dealing with me a stand-out experience?  What do any of us do during a campaign or customer relationship to set ourselves apart in this manner?  I’m sure we could all do more…