“What’s this worth?” It’s the question at the heart of Antiques Roadshow. No matter how junky or strange the item, no matter how useless it appears, everyone’s hoping they’ve scored a prize worthy of a giant price tag or a spot in the Smithsonian. The real value of anything is in the mind of the buyer or customer. A visit to eBay tells you the same thing. A buyer recently bought a vintage needlepoint design first manufactured in the 1970s. She’d stitched one for a friend while in college but always regretted not making one to keep. The original price on “Siamese Cat in Wicker Chair” was about $8, but she happily bid four times that amount as soon as she spotted it online. “I had to have it,” she explained. “It’s as lovely as I remembered and brought back the happiness I felt when I first saw it years ago.”

If value is intangible, especially in business, the memory of value is even more elusive, but is the key to success. A returning customer recalls that he’s been treated well and values the ease of today’s transaction. In a crazy-busy world, the value of that reassurance beats any treasure on Antiques Roadshow. How do your customers rate their repeat experiences with your business?

Have you ever had an idea you know others would applaud if they’d just take time to embrace it? And when their reaction is less than supportive, do you continue to nurture the idea? It happened to a determined author who’d created a new, offbeat character. She’d enjoyed success featuring a traditional male protagonist but wanted to branch out and write about a different kind of heroine and tried out her creation in a short story.

“That was the story that killed so many magazines,” the author recalls. Every time she sold it to another publication, hopeful that her clever prose would finally appear, it didn’t. Magazines, struggling in a tough economy, dropped fiction pages or ceased publishing. Wondering if perhaps her character was a bit too outrageous, she kept trying. Eventually the story did run in a small magazine. It featured a tall, red-headed private detective who moonlights as a Boston cab driver, plays volleyball and blues guitar, and is in love with a mysterious businessman. Carlotta Carlyle, the offbeat P.I., may have been a tough sell, but she instantly appealed to readers and became the star of Linda Barnes’ ongoing series of mystery novels. Even when a thread of doubt crept in, the author trusted her instincts and stuck with her idea.

When you’re focused on customer service, does uncertainty change your course of action or are you dedicated to letting your own ideas shine?

Bright red envelopes and heart-shaped cards, cupcakes with pink frosting and “conversation hearts”-BE MINE! U’RE SWEET—remember Valentine’s Day in those grade school days? Getting lots funny or sentimental greetings from the big paper-covered box adorned with cupids was the most fun a winter’s day could bring.  And sometimes, giving, as in a lace-trimmed, handmade card for Mom, was just as cool.

We may have outgrown the teacher handing out cards and pridefully counting up how many we got, but come February 14, the Valentine’s Day spirit is still in play. This year, how will you remind customers to be your Valentine?

• Send a special email greeting with Valentine’s Day wishes, perhaps including a coupon or voucher to use later.
• Got a storefront or other display opportunity? Make the most of it, with hearts, flowers and an invitation to customers to stop by for a Valentine’s Day treat, hot cider, cookies or chocolates from a satiny heart-shaped box.
• Go old-fashioned and make the Post Office proud: Snail-mail vintage-look Valentine cards to customers, pledging traditional service with contemporary attention to detail.

Connecting with customers any day is good business. But on the day when hearts are open to happy reminders of childhood friendships sealed with a simple, comical card, your thoughtfulness will make the connection, and the customer service, a heartfelt one.

What kinds of things can you do in your business on Valentine’s Day to let your customers know you care?

I love snow days. Even though I am now the owner of a mystery shopping company and long past grade school, the forecast of snow – and lots of it – always adds excitement to the air. And while I’m not jumping up and down and clapping my hands because I won’t have to take that quiz I didn’t study for, I am jumping up and down and clapping my hands because snow days provide me with an opportunity to think about ways I might serve my customer better.

• If you manage an apartment complex, maybe you could offer to pick up items at the grocery store or pharmacy for some of your senior residents.
• If you manage a bank, maybe you could offer hot cocoa or cider for those who come in to make deposits on the days it snows, or give out ice scrapers at the drive-up window.
• If you manage a retail operation, maybe you could wrap customer packages extra carefully so they make it to the customers car without getting wet or falling in the slush in the parking lot.
•  If you run a child or elder care operation, think about making snow days extra fun with a unique activity that you only do on the days it snows.

There are tons of ways to surprise your customers with that “little something extra”. Snow days are the perfect time to do that because they make us slow down and think about what really matters to our customers.

How can you turn a snow day into a positive customer experience for your customers?

The longer I am in the business of mystery shopping, the more I see a lack of integrity in the way some mystery shopping companies do business. Because it is such a subtle value, and one that is hard to test for, many don’t know what to look for when it comes to choosing a firm that has integrity.

If you are looking to use a mystery shopping company for the first time in your organization, or are considering making a change this year, let me give you a few helpful hints on what to look for in the firm you select.

A mystery shopping company with integrity will follow this code of conduct: 

1. The company you are considering will demonstrate a willingness to spend the time to understand the scope of your project. Just asking a few questions before they give you a quote may not be enough. A firm with integrity will probe to make sure they “get you” and will also offer ideas that you may not have considered for your project.

2. A mystery shopping company with integrity will stand behind their work. A good way to test for this is to see if they offer you a guarantee.

3. Having integrity means that the mystery shopping company has fully disclosed their approach to your project in their contract with you. What? No contract? Demand one so that you are protected by the agreement.

4. A mystery shopping company with integrity is also one that protects your data. They do not change/corrupt the feedback from their field researchers in an attempt to sugar coat your results.

5. Choosing a firm with integrity means that you will experience communication throughout the process, checking in with progress reports, letting you know that things are running smoothly and when they are not. 

When choosing a mystery shopping company, take your time and consider the core values of the firms you are considering. If integrity isn’t one of those values…keep looking!

What does integrity mean to you?