Vacations every day!

In North America, we find ourselves in spring break vacation season. That got me to thinking...

When we travel on vacation, things often are difficult and/or stressful: car troubles, delayed or cancelled flights, confusing directions, motel showers, bad food, cab rides and the list goes on. We have to decide what to pack, hope we actually remember everything we intended to pack, make travel arrangements, pay a lot of money for things that we already have at home (like a comfortable bed) and generally displace ourselves from the comfort and routine of our lives. So why do we consider vacation travel fun and desirable?

It seems to me that there are two reasons. One is it is a new, fresh experience. We get to break the mold. Get away from the every day. We see new things, meet new people, have exciting new experiences. Even if our vacation destination is a familiar one, it is different from the every day things that are a part of our "regular" lives.

The second reason that vacations are desirable is that on vacation, the focus is on you. Most of us have to serve others (customers, bosses, teachers, parents and children) in our daily lives. On vacation, we get to do something for ourselves for a change.  People serve us!

Wouldn't it be wonderful, if our customers got "vacation-style" interactions with us on an every day basis? If we could make our customers feel that they are the center of attention when they deal with us and they have new, interesting, and exciting experiences when they deal with us, doesn't it stand to reason that their interactions with us will be more desired and sought out? And, like a vacation, doesn't it stand to reason that the customer who experiences "vacation-style" interactions will be willing to put up with the occasional mistake or inconvenience in order to have those interactions?

We do when we travel.