That Little Bit Extra

Everyone always talks about going that extra mile. But could you possibly just do 1% more? And what would the effect of that be?

I love running and I've developed quite a cool habit: At the very end of my run, I reach the entrance to our estate / gated community. Instead of taking the shortest & most obvious route to our house, I instead take the longest loop around. That little bit adds another 0.5km to my run.

0.5km is obviously not significant on it's own, but consider these:

• If I add that to a 5km run, I've just run 10% more than I would have; and
• If I'm running 40km a week and adding 10% more in total, that's a total of 4km that I've run more than I would've otherwise.

My point being that the little bit extra (all the 0.5km's) add up pretty quickly. And I bet that it actually has an exponential effect on my fitness and running ability.

The question I'd like to pose you, is how are you putting in that little bit extra into your startup, work or personal life?

Here's a few examples of things you could be doing in your startup:

• Respond to a customer e-mail within 5 minutes of receiving it.
• Under-promise & over-deliver. Do something your customers didn't expect of you.
• Throw in a freebie when they purchase something from you.
• Send them a handwritten "thank you" note.
• Send them some schwag.

Looking at any of those things, none of them actually requires a major investment (time, energy or money) on your part. But imagine the kind of customer loyalty you can build over time if you did these things often.

So, I'll ask you again: where & how are you doing that little bit extra?