Tactic
Unreasonable Hospitality: the glove-box gift card and the $20 contest
Will Guidara's cheap hospitality tricks that scale beyond fancy restaurants: a Ford dealer hid a $15 Starbucks card in every glove box with a surprise note; a UPS store owner ran a weekly $20 contest for the most hospitable act, which transformed the whole culture and drove referrals.
“Let's put a $15 Starbucks gift card in the glove box of every car. And we're going to put a note that says, we wanted to— whenever you go to open this glove box, we wanted to surprise you with something special.”
Steal thisEngineer one small, unexpected 'wow' moment into the customer journey; run a cheap weekly staff contest for the most hospitable act.
Story
Kingsford Charcoal was born from Ford's wood scraps
Sam recounts that Kingsford Charcoal originated from Ford's car manufacturing: the company burned wood in its ovens and packed the leftover charcoal and wood scraps into a sellable product, turning waste into a multi-billion-dollar business.
“And so what they did when they had these ovens is they would put wood into an oven, burn it, and then what's left over is like charcoal. And they would pack it together really tightly and then they would pack up, pack together really tightly all their extra wood scraps and created charcoal. And that's where Kingford Charcoal came out of.”
Fact
JD Power's racket: sell the award to the company being rated
Sam breaks down how a ratings agency monetizes: car companies pay membership fees, and only members are eligible for awards. He frames it as a billion-dollar 'trust as a service' model that works as long as the rater stays a benevolent dictator.
“the way that they make money is the car companies are members of the organization. So if you're like If you only want the money, you don't give a fuck about being ethical, you could be like, "Hey, Ford, our new membership costs this much money. Are you guys in or out? And just so you know, if you're out, we can't give you any awards."”
Steal thisCreate a credential or award, then charge the people who want it; the stamp is the product.