Keep pulling the thread on Will Guidara.
When a customer's pet passes away, online pet supply company Chewy's standard procedure is to cancel the food subscription, issue a credit for the last bag, and send a bouquet of flowers with condolences.
The "Dreamweaver" role, a position created at Eleven Madison Park dedicated to executing special customer experiences without operational duties, has been implemented by numerous companies globally.
Financial services firm Iconic, led by Devesh Makan, chartered a plane to evacuate a client's parents from Florida during a hurricane, a gesture the client values more than the firm's financial returns.
Will Guidara predicts that companies that use savings from AI-driven efficiencies to reinvest in and enhance human-to-human customer interactions will have a long-term competitive advantage.
Will Guidara advocates for a financial management strategy called the "Rule of 95/5," where businesses manage 95% of their budget with extreme frugality to spend the remaining 5% on transformational, relationship-building investments.
Will Guidara believes that failing to invest the final 5% of a budget in customer relationships and experiences is a form of financial recklessness, as it neglects long-term loyalty for short-term savings.
The principles from Will Guidara's book "Unreasonable Hospitality" have been adopted by a wide range of organizations, including prison systems, Navy SEALs teams, hospital systems, and NFL teams.
The owner of two UPS stores in Sarasota, Florida, implemented a policy requiring every cashier to waive a customer's purchase of up to $30 once per day, which reportedly transformed the store's culture and customer interactions.
Will Guidara argues that the greatest competitive advantage for a business, especially during difficult years, is customer loyalty built through relentless investment in relationships, not just product performance.
Will Guidara advises businesses to minimize the list of required prior experiences for job candidates, arguing that companies often over-index on past accomplishments and filter out potentially great hires who could be trained for the role.
Will Guidara estimates that 95% of companies "recklessly under-invest" in customer recovery, often spending heavily on marketing like Super Bowl ads while providing poor support for negative customer experiences.
Will Guidara believes that companies using AI purely for efficiency and cost reduction are wasting the technology's potential.