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Newsletter #796: The “Special Things for Special Customers” Issue

Welcome back to the Damn, I Wish I Thought of That! newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.]

Small gestures for special groups of customers can do amazing things. A few opportunities to do it:

1> Your menu
2> Your product line
3> Your community
4> Check it out: The Editors’ Desk

1> Your menu

Try finding room on your menu to offer something special to a special group of your customers. At Miami’s Aventura restaurant, executive chef Robert Ibgui’s menu features dishes that specifically cater to the palates of their elderly customers. With just a few changes in seasonings and ingredients, the restaurant is able to offer something special for some of their most loyal customers.

The lesson: What small tweak can you do to what you already sell to create something unique for special customers?

Learn more: Miami Herald

2> Your product line

Special product releases focused on exciting special groups of your customers can create fantastic conversations. To the delight of uber geeks everywhere, Jones Soda released a series of Dungeons & Dragons-themed flavors. Fans loved the flavors — which included “Potion of Healing,” “Sneak Attack,” and “Dwarven Draught” — so much so that they went on back order for more than a month.

The lesson: Themed releases or limited-edition specials are fantastic ways to get enthusiastic groups of customers talking.

Learn more: USA Today

3> Your community

Look for opportunities to create or sell something that can help a special group in your community. Firehouse Subs in Jacksonville, Florida, for example, sells buckets of pickles at the register for $2 — with all proceeds going towards life-saving equipment for local fire and police departments. It’s a small gesture that’s making a big difference: In five years they’ve raised nearly $3 million to help this local cause.

The lesson: Help customers do special things for their own communities.

Learn more: Fast Casual

4> Check it out: The Editors’ Desk

Check out The Editors’ Desk for a daily slice of some of the weirdest, most interesting, and most bizarre quotes pulled from the depths of news stories featured in major media.

Check it out: The Editors’ Desk

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