Five Guys’ 27¢ on-demand dopamine-rush secret…

One of my favourite hotels had a young doorman who was sensational and played the doorman role perfectly:

He knew who I was and what my preferences were like – even my tea order.

(I don’t drink coffee.) 

So every time he saw me arriving…

He had a pomegranate tea ordered.

I would get out of the cab, and he would tell me to go have my tea…

…and that he’d take care of everything.

One cold winter’s night, my missus and I were going out – dressed to impress – but it was some of the heaviest rain I had seen. 

I asked Dominik what the chances were for a taxi, to which he simply replied:

“Not a problem.”

He ran down the street – no coat, no umbrella, no nuthin’… then a few minutes later a taxi arrived…

And Dominik got out looking like a drowned rat.

Turns out:

He stopped somebody else from grabbing my taxi, and simply told us:

“Have a great night!”

When we got to the restaurant, I took a few minutes to arrange for Dominik’s preferred pizza to be delivered from his favourite pizza place at a quiet time of the night.

When we got back, he was still at the door and did his usual formal welcome. 

But then…

He quietly asked me if I arranged pizza for him and his crew…

“What makes you think I did?” I replied.

“Because nobody else would do it.”

Not once did he ever do anything expecting a tip.

In fact:

He often knocked them back!

When other customers see the way that I am treated, I ask them if they know Dominik – after which I introduce Dominik as the most important person they could know…

And another relationship starts right there.

Now…

There are a dozen business/marketing ideas you can extract from this story alone…

But perhaps the most important one is about the idea of being a “Spreadsheet Merchant”…

…and “Intagibilist”.

(I wrote more about it in the “How strippers can induce a drug withdrawal-like feening for your emails…” email – it’s on my Email Echoes page.)

The bean counters see a doorman as…

Just a doorman.

Just a person who opens doors – as a number on a spreadsheet eating up a precious 0.72% of the margins.

But for whatever cost savings you achieve, replacing him with an automatic door…

You’re losing at least 3-5x in perceived value.

Because in reality?

A doorman does far more than just open the door.

(As my story about Dominik clearly demonstrates.)

So…

Is this doorman fallacy also present in the supplement industry?

You bet it is.

I could go quite in-depth about it…

…but that’s beyond the scope of a simple email like this – so here’s a banal example:

Free (unexpected) gifts with purchase.

There’s this German car parts store that always throws in a tiny pack of Haribo gummy bears in all my orders.

Nowhere on the order form does it say they’ll throw it in… nor do they charge me extra for it, naturally.

Well…

No one did that for me – so far – when buying supplements.

(And I’ve been buying them regularly for almost a decade now…)

Throwing in a free, unexpected gift with purchase in someone’s order…

(e.g., a protein bar – or if you’re really uptight about “margins!1!1” then at least a few sample packs.)

Is NOT costing you money.

It is, on a spreadsheet….

…but the added value/goodwill gained from the customer is far greater.

We often get the strongest dopamine response when something desirable (like our order) arrives, but it exceeds expectations (we got something extra we didn’t expect).

(Google “The Dopamine Reward Prediction Error” if you’re curious.)

It’s why surprise gifts can feel unusually compelling – Five-Guys’ employees are deliberately instructed to put a little extra fries with your order…

(Which probably doesn’t cost them more than a 27¢…)

…precisely because they understand this triggers biochemistry.

But all right, enough ice cream for the soul – I gave away too many of my secrets already…