I once saw a cow jump

A cow jumping is not graceful or a thing of beauty, it's impressive, but not in a athletic sense, more of a "how on earth did that huge thing get airbourne". A bit like when my kids at an airshow say "how does that huge plane get off the ground"? with me not being a pupil of aerospace engineering, I just drop my jaw like them and say "awesome".

But once I saw a cow jump, I was near Elvington Airfield (same place as Richard Hammond decided to test the airbag on his jet car)near York and I had just left a meeting of local CEO's and Entrepreneurs and was navigating my way home, when I glanced over the fence next to the road and saw a fully fattended black and white cow leaping and bucking like a bronco across the field! I was on the phone at the time, the person on the other end started laughing as I shouted, "THE COW JUMPED........the cow jumped.......I don't believe it.......it jumped! (Even now as I recall it, it's as though I was just there again.)

Now when was the last time you experienced something that made you shout about it, that actually made you feel good, that really was a head turning moment? In his book Purple Cow Seth Godin, talks about Purple Cows being exactly that: imagine you were walking past a field of cows and in amongst the herd was one purple on? I bet you would say "I saw a purple cow, not a usual Black & White/Brown one, A PURPLE ONE!" it really would stand out.

I travel around the UK and in getting to and from Health Clubs and meeting customers. I am a consumer of Hotels,Restaurants and plenty of coffee shops/cafes and I see lots of the same thing, rarely do I see or experience a Purple Cow moment within Health Club/ Gym/ Restaurant settings. I get some good service, I get lots of poor service but nothing to justify a Purple Cow (not to be confused with the US Forces Purple Heart, although maybe we should ask our members to award Purple Cows to our staff?). Now you may think that every business should be peppering us with these moments, perhaps, but first actually I would settle for some consistency, never mind excellence.

I will share my Purple Cow moment with you. I took up golf 5 years ago, in the unfolding years I have dedicated myself to getting the handicap down. My first milestone was to get to 18 handicap, duly reached,the reward was a new custom fitted set of PING G10 clubs (non golfers stick with me for a moment). Unfortunately after 6 months I had them stolen from my car, I was gutted. I walked into my Golf Club Academy Shop and my face must have given a clue as to my state of mind (especially as the morning I woke up to find them gone I should have been playing at a prestige course in Leeds). Within seconds of me explaining, the Assistant Golf Professional was on the phone to PING,as he dialled he asked his colleague to take me for a Driver & Fairway woods fitting session as my previous models were discontinued. Within 5 mins they had retrieved my original custom fit measurements from the manufacturer, placed the order for the replacements, put together a temporary bag complete with new driver & fairway woods tees/balls/towel etc and ordered replacement waterproofs (they were in the bag too). An hour after walking in, I was walking out smiling with a set to play the weekend competition and feeling pleased that at least my replacement clubs would be with me in a week. Now, the fact they arrived in 3 days, meant minimal disruption in my quest to lower my handicap and win some silverware at the club competitions.
It wasn't; the fact that all the equipment was replaced, it was the feeling that the staff were so in tune with my situation that they made me feel that they were actually doing it for themselves. The outcome of that (and consistent service year round already) is that I have remained loyal to them, I buy all my equipment from them and I recommend them and their tuition to everyone I now in the area (I am now down to 8 Handicap too!). So for me that was a real Purple Cow, must be I'm telling you aren't I - and it's 2 years ago!

So let's strive for some consistent delivery in our businesses, then maybe we create an environment where our staff have a chance to make a Purple Cow moment!