The Cherry On Top
Sundaes are delicious. They’re one of my favorite desserts!
You can get one made with just about any flavor of ice cream (or combination of flavors!), then add syrups and sauces to amp-up the decadence (hot fudge, caramel, pineapple, strawberries, butterscotch, etc.). At this point the person behind the counter is getting out the whipped topping to add a cloud-like dollop of cream on top and asking if you want to add nuts. Depending on your nut preference the tasty dessert is complete, right?
Nope.
Not until the whole thing is finished with a cherry on top!
The “cherry on top” signifies that everything is complete and adds a little treat.
The cherry on top is the little extra that gets added to a completed project to show the customer how much you care and how much you value them.
Back in the early days of ordering music online, CDBaby.com was a favorite site to buy CDs because their email confirmations were awesome. They told you that your order was in process, but they were funny. Your request was hand delivered to the fulfillment department on a velvet cushion. A scented candle was burned as your order was gently placed into the box and tucked in securely for a safe journey to your door — little bits of humor added the cherry on top.
Another place I used order items from came with a handful of individually wrapped hard candy tossed into the box before they sealed it up for delivery.
Whenever I’ve placed an order for mystery books at Crippen and Landru they’ve always sent an extra item in my delivery. Usually a chapbook edition of a short story by the very same author who wrote the book I ordered.
There is a cliche that says “Life is a bowl of cherries” and is meant to impart the message that life is wonderful and filled with sweet happiness, but I think if you get an abundance of anything you are more likely to begin taking it for granted.
If you started getting a bowl of cherries everyday, you’d enjoy them and be grateful for days… maybe even weeks. But then you’d become critical of the gift as it became less special and more routine.
You’d start noticing that some of these cherries don’t look as good as the ones they were handing out last week. Maybe you’d get a little miffed that on some days you received fewer cherries than other days. Or maybe you’d even start complaining about the kind of bowl they were using.
Just add one cherry on top (not 50 cherries)
You don’t need to hand out bowls of cherries or bury your product under fancy little accents. Just finish and deliver your product or project exactly how the customer expects it, and then add a little extra something on top to make a little extra special.
Think about your product or service.
Think about some small accent you could delivery with the finished product that would complement or enhance the experience of enjoying your service or using your product.
- If you run a maid service, perhaps you could leave behind a scented candle after you clean a client’s home.
- If you sell coffee, perhaps a giving small Biscotti treat would be a nice little extra to include.
- If you’re in the car repair business, handing our a certificate for a free car wash (or even hanging a funny car air freshener from the rear-view mirror) would be an excellent “cherry” to add on top.
