“We’re sorry to hear of your loss of Mamie, and our hearts go out to you. We know this time is tough, and we’re always here if you need anything.
Love, Jair, Chewy.com”
With the recent passing of our family pet, one of the chores we had to complete was ending the autoship arrangement we had for her dog food. My wife made the outreach to chewy.com and 2 days later the above note along with a small bouquet of bright flowers showed up at our front door.
Of course, chewy.com does this for thousands of customers. Of course, it is systematized. Of course, “Jair” may not even see this note prior to it being sent. Of course, there has been nothing but a transactional connection between chewy.com and our family.
And yet.
When my wife saw the flowers and opened the card, her voice filled with emotion. . .”wow, that is really special.”
Far too often advancement professionals get caught up in how a process, a strategy, a tactic, or a plan feels to us. Before we will allow ourselves to implement a particular strategy, we decide how organic (or how authentic, how genuine, etc.) our motivations are. If it feels too systematized, too assembly-line, too devoid of emotion, we label it as fake and throw it away.
When the only true test should be, “how special does it make them feel?”
