When Al Hopkins was a young boy he watched the other ten-year-olds wait for customers to stop by their sidewalk lemonade stands in the hot summer sun. Al abandoned the “stand” concept and took his lemonade business door-to-door. He made enough money in one summer to buy a new Schwinn Flyer bicycle with a siren!

Innovative service is distinctive, unique, unusual, atypical, unexpected, and all the other words you can think of that insinuate a pleasant surprise. This brand of service yields in customers the exact same emotional reaction that might be created by witnessing a rainbow you did not expect, or getting a novel gift that communicates the giver knew you much better than you realized.

What would your customer experience be like if you had a magic wand and could change one important aspect of the customer experience? Or, if you had unlimited resources? Or, if the new experience was going to carry the name of your child, spouse, best friend or parents?