ideas worth stealingWhat makes a company great?
Respect. Loyalty. Mutual gratitude.
Lynda.com is a great company. In addition to being a big fan and advocate of their online library and series of Hands On Training books, I’ve also had the privilege of working with Lynda and the team on several occasions, and I can tell you this: They treat you well, they cut checks quickly, they put you up in gorgeous hotels, and they speak highly of you at every available opportunity. Hell, they even sent me a letter once to explain that they had mistakenly sent too little on a prior royalty check. (Of course, they sent the check, too.)
And if all this wasn’t enough, they completely susprised me today. How?
First, they sent me a handwritten holiday card they designed themselves. Second, they included a wrapped gift. And inside the wrapping paper was an engraved 1Gb iPod Shuffle. It says, “Rock on! - lynda.com”.
Is Lynda.com great because they sent something nicer than a company-branded pen? Yes, but that’s not the whole deal.
They’re great because they realize a company is only as great as its relationships. And they did something to make a real impression. They didn’t simply acknowledge our work together with some crappy trinket. They handwrote the notes on the inside of the card. They wrapped the gift. They made it personal.
That’s what makes a company great.
Posted by Robert on December 19th, 2006
2 comments
That’s awesome, Robert. It’s also what my wife does when she replies to emails or sends out sold items.
Granted, her products don’t include an iPod shuffle (!) in thanks, but she includes little notes, a cute button-magnet, stickers, and even personalized care instructions for the item(s). She designed everything herself, too. Her customer retention is surprisingly high.
Making it personal is how Flickr and Metafilter built their communities.
The fact that it was a designed card is truly a sign of a class act. I also think the gift says something important here too. I imagine when you opened it, you said to yourself… wow!
A gift of that nature shows that they do hold your business relationship dear. I think it’s impressive on many levels. Overall it shows that more than a 2 minute decision on which holiday card to mass produce was made. Time and thought went into this idea.
Year after year Google tries to impress it’s high end clients with some new gadget made poorly in China. Honestly, the best gift I ever got from them was a beach towel. At least it still works.
Kudo’s to Lynda.com