cowboy bootsI proudly wear Lucchese cowboy boots.  These chocolate brown accessories remain affixed to my feet at work and at leisure.  They have even become an integral part of my brand.  I get a lot of very favorable comments about my boots; no one ever noticed my upscale dress shoes.  That’s one reason boots remind me often of the features of innovative service.

Great customer service is like an excellent pair a dress shoes…plain, simple and always in style.  But, western boots, while just as dressy as shoes, are typically unique, like innovative service. Most dress shoes are made of mainstream, you’ve-seen-a-million-pair cowhide leather.  Western boots are generally made of something distinctive—ostrich, lizard, elk, or even snake.  My Lucchese boots are made of kangaroo—I am sure an old, retired and ready-to-be-reincarnated-into-art kangaroo).

Dress shoes are ordinary polished leather; western boots have an elegantly tooled design as if done by an artist, not by a cobbler.  And, like innovative service, boots have storytelling features.  The boot’s slanted heal is crafted to make it easier to keep a foot in the stirrup of a saddle; the pointed toe is to a horse what the accelerator is to a vehicle.  The tall boot shaft helps the boot stay on when suspended from a saddle since there are no laces, elastic or buckles to keep it on.

Customers always enjoy great customer service.  But, innovative service, just like a pair of western boots, creates the kind of experience that gets people talking.