There’s a restaurant in my neighborhood called Moody’s that’s been in business more than 40 years, and I’ve seen it written up in Chicago magazine as the “insider” spot. Only the locals know about this gem.

You might be thinking that Moody’s must offer world-class cuisine to have this kind of success. Nope. At Moody’s you can order a hamburger, a cheeseburger or – as of about 10 years ago – a grilled chicken breast on a bun. On the side, french fries or onion rings. To drink? A pitcher of beer. (Or soda – or even milk!) So it’s not the diversity of the menu that gets people coming back.

It should be noted, a Moody Burger is one of the best burgers you’re ever going to taste. And that’s an important marketing lesson – your products need to be way above the competition – but that’s not the lesson of today’s blog post.

Rather, today’s lesson is about just being friendly, and letting your customers know you as a person.

Moody’s was started by a guy by the name of John Moody, and he had an apartment above the restaurant back in the day. My dad as a young man (before I was born) used to frequent Moody’s, and because they were both young single guys, he and John Moody struck up a little acquaintance. As the years went on, John stopped working in the restaurant, but could often be seen on his balcony, overlooking the outdoor seating area.

My dad would always wave up at John, and John would wave back. Were they “friends?”  Did my dad know the personal details of John’s life?  No not at all.  But there was a friendliness in just that little wave that made my dad feel welcome, and those good feelings transferred over to his feelings about the restaurant.  And, of course, kept him coming back over and over again.

Now here’s the really important part of this story. How do I know all of this? Because my dad re-tells this story time and time again! His friendship, if you can call it that, with John Moody ended more than 20 years ago, when John gave up his little apartment over the restaurant and bought a big house in the suburbs. But to this day, my dad tells the story about how he would always wave to John Moody, and John would wave back.  And, whenever he comes to visit me in the city, Moody’s is STILL my dad’s favorite place to go.

“Well that’s great,” you might be thinking to yourself, “But I don’t have a balcony overlooking my store.  I can’t wave at my customers like that.”

Maybe not.  But you know what you CAN do?  You can “wave” at them on Facebook.   When you post a little comment “Looks like you had fun” on one of your customer’s wall posts, it goes an incredibly long way to cementing your relationship with that customer, and getting them to come back to you time and time again.

Will it last for 40 years, like my dad’s fondness for Moody’s?  Only time will tell …

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