The day we moved into our new house last month was a very, very happy day for lots of reasons. For starters, we were moving to a place with twice (literally) the space, located in a beautiful, quiet village. But something else great happened on moving day. Our ancient box spring wouldn’t make it up the stairs. Yay!! We had to get a new bed. We had no choice!

So my husband and I arranged for a sitter and hit the stores (after doing some preliminary research online for prices) starting with Leon’s furniture in Charlottetown. We’ve bought furniture there before and have always been pleased with the service etcetera so we were glad that their prices seemed best. A few minutes after we got to the mattress gallery, a sales person (Karen Boyle) walked through and asked if we knew what type of bed we should be sleeping on. We just knew anything would be better than what we were currently using and had planned on buying the least expensive set there.

She took us over to a cool computerized thing that you and your sleep partner take turns laying down on to figure out what type of mattress will suit. Now, whether this actually works, or whether it helps them to upsell you on a pricier bed, it was pretty cool and we discovered we needed a plush mattress as opposed to a firm one.

We made sure to tell Karen that we needed a split box spring so it would fit upstairs and she kept that issue in mind when showing us mattresses, pointing out certain ones that wouldn’t work for us because the mattresses were too high to fit up our stairs.

In the end we made our selection and set about to order it. When we asked how long it would take to be delivered to us, she told us it could be a couple of weeks. I asked if it could possibly be delivered before the next weekend which was my 30th birthday, so I could sleep on a bed younger than me for my big day. She had a chuckle at that, we filled out the paperwork, paid her and were on our way.

A few days later I got a call from Karen saying that the bed would be arriving on Thursday so I’d have my new bed for my birthday. I thought it was sweet that she remembered that little detail.

But then, the next day there was a standard looking Leon’s Thank you card from Karen in the mail thanking us for our purchase. But at the bottom she drew a little birthday cake and added a “PS, Happy Birthday Jaime”.

I was so impressed!

The day after the bed arrived, I got a call from Leon’s asking how my delivery experience was, too. And guess what? I’ve been telling everyone. AND I remember our sales person’s name because she wow-ed me with that birthday wish at the bottom of the card she sent.

These are the details you remember. In these days when customer loyalty is almost extinct, it’s these small touches that might – just maybe – make you remember a store (and a commission-based sales person which I assume Karen is) when you need to make another purchase.

What are you doing to see to it that your customers remember you? Do you send a birthday card or a gift once in awhile? If you see a book one of your clients would love, do you pick it up and send it to them?

What can you implement easily that will set you apart?

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