By Paul Chika Emekwulu
A term used in a personal development book titled, The Magic of Thinking Success written by an American author, a one time professor of marketing and chairman of the Department at Georgia State University, Dr. David Schwartz, who among others, is also the author of The Magic of Getting What You Want and The Magic of Thinking Big that I love so much is “frosting the cake”. The Magic of Thinking Success should catch the attention of anyone, male or female who is in business or wants to be successful.
Among others, The Magic of Thinking Success and Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill (another American self help author) are personal development tools I regard as books of general interest that could help very tremendously in resuscitating the poor reading habits of our society. Books of general interest have no restricted audience and no restricted content.
Now, let’s get straight to the topic of this write up.
In preparing a cake for any event there are certain basic ingredients needed. Among others you need flour, sugar and eggs etc. It doesn’t matter whether the cake is for a wedding or a birthday ceremony, an anniversary, celebration of knighthood etc. With these ingredients present, the cake is guaranteed by the person making the cake. Anything extra is there to embellish the cake in order to make the cake more palatable. Adding those extras is what Dr. David Schwartz describes in his book as “frosting the cake.”
Explicitly stated, “frosting the cake” is all about getting more sales for product oriented businesses and getting more clients for service-oriented businesses.
For product and service oriented businesses, the product sold and the service provided, metaphorically becomes the cake respectively.
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Frosting the cake is needed for the success of both product – oriented and service – oriented businesses.
Examples of service businesses include air transportation companies like American Airlines, Ibom Air, Qatar Airways, Delta Airlines, Air Peace, Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways. Other examples are land transportation companies like Ekwulọbịa Urban Mass, Uber, Transport Company of Anambra State (TRACAS), Enugu Transport Company (ENTRACO), Umuchu Urban Mass etc., financial institutions (banks, loan companies etc.), health care providers, electricity companies like EEDC now DISCO, online travel companies like Quantum Travels, Touchdowns, Wakanow, Travels, Expedia. Com, courier service companies like DHL (Dasley Hilblom Lynn), FedEx (Federal Express), online bookstores like Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, Biblio Books, Abebooks, Half Price Books, Waterstones, The Bookshelf, Thrift books, Powell’s Books, Book Depository, Amazon etc., law firms and accounting firms.
Product service companies include Walmart Stores, General Electric (GE), Roban stores and Shoprite stores etc.
What businesses do to get and retain or loose their customers can metaphorically be compared to frosting the cake or defrosting the cake (mine). These things can make a difference negatively or positively in the day to day life of any business, product or service.
If the business does these things because they are required by law, no cake has been frosted. It looks like they are being forced to provide these things. They are not providing anything extra because if they fail to provide these things they would face prosecution. Then the law has power over the business. It is like a motorcyclist who wears a crash helmet not because of his or her safety, but because the law says so. If not for the law, to him or her, he or she doesn’t need a helmet. To him or her it is never about safety but it should be about safety.
Businesses are frosting the cake, when not mandated by law they provide free restroom, when not mandated by law they provide free air, when not mandated by law they provide free coffee all day or between specific times of the day (like Happy Hour) or when not mandated by law they provide free use of company phone etc. All these are extras.
On one hand, If they are required by law to provide free restroom for example, and if for any reason the restroom is out of order and not fixed, then the company is inviting trouble to itself.
On the other hand, If they are not mandated by law to provide the service, the company would not consider an out of order restroom as a priority. In order words, the company is not ready to frost the cake as far as restroom is concerned. They will fix it when they want because nobody is looking over their shoulder.
Are you in marketing?
Are you in automobile sales?
Are you in book publishing?
Are you in transport business?
Are you in education?
Are you in insurance?
Are you a plumber?
Are you a carpenter?
Are you a bricklayer?
Are you a panel beater?
Are you a motor vehicle or a motorcycle mechanic?
Are you a phone repairer?
Are you a meat cutter?
Are you a medical doctor?
Are you a police officer?
Are you a lawyer?
The list is not exhaustive. It continues as many as there are different product and service businesses.
If you are any of the above or in any of the above businesses or further still, if you are not any of the above or you are not in any of the above businesses but you are in business, I have a question for you:
Are you frosting the cake or are you defrosting the cake? :
Listen to this story told by an insurance agent I just met.
This agent told me a story about another agent who has the habit of absconding with her clients’ money without providing the necessary services. This other agent she said, would collect the required charge for the service, at times inflated, and the service would not be provided. So, in the case of this other agent instead of frosting the case, she is defrosting the cake. She never did what was required of her, let alone providing extra to her clients.
The same agent came to my house and collected my vehicle expired papers. I paid her in advance for she insisted it had to be done that way. I had no reason not to believe and trust her.
Weeks and months passed I never had my renewal process completed. I checked her at the local government headquarters office where they all work from, all to no avail. All my phone calls were never returned. After more than a year had passed she saw me at the Ekwulọbịa flyover construction site (This was in September 2023) and called my attention. She started telling me a story about her mother’s sickness during the period she collected my money. Another worst part of it is that she lost my papers. But she didn’t lose my money. At the time of writing this my money hasn’t refunded. Again, this is another case of defrosting the cake. Will I use that insurance agent next time my papers are due for renewal? Of course not? Does it serve her right? Yes, it does.
Instead of putting extra on the cake to make it more palatable, she removed from the cake and made it soar. Nobody will ever like it that way.
I told my agent about the importance of a call back satisfaction call to a customer. At the same time she can remind the customer about the expiry date of his or her policy. To do this successfully she has to keep customer details in terms of the policy expiry date. She said that most customers would feel slighted, they would regard that as an insult.
I said, “No, personally I wouldn’t.”
Sincerely reminding a policy holder of the expiration date of his or her policy is a step in the right direction. That’s a good way for any insurance agent to frost the cake for her clients.
Let’s see how some commercial drivers frost the cake for their passengers if at all.
Some commercial drivers frost the cake by providing some music for their psssengers’ comfort especially on a long trip. These drivers are not required by law to do this. This is a good example of frosting the cake. Passengers love to listen to music while on a journey. I am one of them for I have ears for good music. That explains why I dance at my parish Church.
A popular sugar free wheat bread company that has no competition failed to satisfy demand and continued to give incessant vehicle breakdown as an excuse. The retailers got disappointed while individual consumers looked elsewhere for a replacement without much success. Sugar free bread is regarded as the best for health especially those with diabetes.
The company didn’t call their retailers and the retailers had to call to find out why there was no delivery. That is a good example of defrosting the cake.
That is like putting the cat before the horse. The retailers shouldn’t have been the first to call the company. The company should have as a matter of urgency called the retailers to let them know of their inability to deliver. Now instead of frosting the cake, they defrosted the cake. There are many ways through which such a company could lose retail customers but this seems to be the easiest and the fastest. Now it is time to talk about NEPA.
It seems like NEPA now DISCO is in the business of defrosting the cake. Instead of providing extra to their customers, NEPA takes extra from their customers in the form of expensive tariffs and outrageous estimated billing system etc. At times NEPA uses increased tariffs to explain away their unfair and evil estimated billing plan. That is defrosting the cake.
Here is another instance. A bread maker never listed added sugar as one of his ingredients. Because of this his bread gained popularity. Then when eaten over time it was discovered that the bread actually contains sugar. Such a bread maker has defrosted the cake. He lied about his product. He used deceit to gain customers. In such a case he has to pay heavily by losing unsatisfied customers. Moreover, the number one benefit of honesty is honesty itself. After all, one good turn deserves another. Here is another similar example.
A store just opened in the neighborhood selling the usual and common things like toilet rolls, different brands of detergent, matches, powdered milk etc. He sells just those things you can find in a convenience store. (provision store).
One of the people invited to the opening of the store decided within himself to use it as his regular store for different household needs like toiletries. This decision was chiefly because of family connection.
On the day of opening, among other things he bought more than three rolls of toilet tissue. The payment was immediate. He left. Neither the wife of the store owner who made the sale nor her husband who was looking on all in silence showed any iota of appreciation. Both acted as if it was mandatory for this particular customer to buy these things.
This customer never received any phone calls in the days ahead. We all know that such things as toilet tissue doesn’t last forever. This particular customer will still need these things in the future. Next time when he does need these things he would go somewhere else. He was not appreciated and because of that he never went back. The store went out of business in less than a year.
All it would have taken to keep such a trustworthy customer was a little show of appreciation. Appreciation again is a part of frosting the cake. By appreciating appreciation, you are appreciating appreciation. If you are in business you have to learn how to appreciate for lack of it can be disastrous.
Another example!
I received a posting of the youngest university lecturer in Nigeria named Chinonye Egbo. She is a lecturer at Enugu State University of Technology (ESUT). She became a lecturer at the age of 24. While answering question in an interview she said that her students look up to her and they want to be like her. What she is, some of them are desiring to be and what she is, she wants them to be. She said that her students call her “auntie.” She gives the students extra by refusing to be confined to the curriculum. She discusses life outside the classroom with her students. That’s frosting the cake in a classroom setting. Frosting the cake does not involve only good-oriented businesses, but service-oriented as well, in this case, education.
One Tuesday morning I decided to recharge my phone with a card I purchased a few days back from one of the agents. While doing this every number including the PIN was taken except the hash tag (#). The next day I decided to recharge with a different amount. I decided to do this with #1,000.00. Because the hash tag had a problem, I requested that the agent do it himself. He agreed. He got the card and made the necessary entries.
“It looks as if your hash tag is not working,” he said to me. I couldn’t feign ignorance because I knew he was right about the hash tag.
“That’s a second point,” I later said to myself. That was second point confirming that my phone is not taking the tag. The first point of course was at home when I first tried to recharge but all to no avail. It has now been proved that the phone has an issue.
I requested that the battery be taken out. He did take out the battery. Still the hash wasn’t taken after the battery was reinstalled.
This was the time he decided to do it via POS. To do this he asked for my phone number, saying that the recharge is possible if one knows his or her phone number by memory. I gave him my phone number. This time everything went well.
Now listen! This gentleman wasn’t mandated to do anything further after selling the recharge card to me. Whatever he did for me was extra. He frosted the cake. A good turn deserves another. Doesn’t it?
A man who just bought a Tokumbo shuttle bus discovered that it has an oil leak about a day after bringing the shuttle home. He took it to a mechanic, a shuttle bus expert who contained the leakage. The owner of the shuttle bus left with the assumption that the mechanic gauged the engine oil but eventually discovered that there was no oil in the engine. The shuttle mechanic would have gone the extra mile by gauging the oil, but he didn’t. That would have been frosting the cake.
Here is another one.
Just recently I discovered a new POS agent in town who takes the time to arrange her money all with the people image in one direction before the start of business. I know another that keeps her money haphazardly. She arranges the money only after the transaction is concluded to fit my taste. This is like a driver wearing a seat belt or a motorcyclist wearing a crash helmet because of the police. If there is no sight of the police, it becomes business as usual.
“That’s how I arrange my money too,” I said to the former agent.
Since then I kept her as my agent as well. I use many of them as dictated by circumstances and convenience.
One day she called me but I wasn’t there to take her call. When I called her back she said she was out of town to take care of a health problem.
A few days later she called again. This time she called to let me know when next she would be available for business. That’s frosting the cake we are talking about.
Now for airlines.
Qatar Airways has a customer loyalty programme called Privilege Club. Once enrolled you start to accumulate Avios redeemable for future air travel. Some airlines like Delta Airlines, American Airlines etc. has frequent flyer programme. American Airlines operates AAdvantage programme that allows customers to accumulate points also redeemable for future air travels. These are different ways different airlines frost the cake for their frequent flying customers for continued patronage as well a way to attract future patronage.
Now here is a personal story.
On 5th of August 2022, I came back from the United States on Delta Airlines Flight No. DL 54 originating from Will Roger’s International Airport in Oklahoma City. On getting to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Atlanta we had a two day layover due to maintenance.
On August 9, 2022 the airline sent a letter to all the affected passengers apologizing for the inconvenience. Not only that. The airline also provided hotel accommodation for some passengers. They also refunded the air ticket in the sum of $1654.00. Any passenger who preferred not to receive a refund was given the option of receiving a $1654 non-transferable voucher for future travel and good for one year. I preferred the refund option and of course, it was refunded. The refund was processed on September 25, 2022. Did the airline frost the cake? Of course! They lost heavy revenue in order to satisfy their stranded passengers and attract future patronage.
One good turn deserves another. None of us has a reason not to use Delta Airlines for future travels to any destination anywhere in the world. That is because the airline frosted the cake, the loss it incurred notwithstanding.
What we do most of the time in this part of the world is defrosting the cake. This is well demonstrated in the next story.
A business man got furious, blaming me and asking me how I got his phone number. This was someone who had something to sell to me. He put me on the defensive.
I didn’t call him to complain about his product or service. I didn’t call him to insult him and I didn’t call him to curse him. I called him inquiring about a product I wanted to buy from him. That attitude is nothing but defrosting the cake. By defrosting the cake you are taking away some of the basic ingredients.
Commercial drivers at times are entrusted with waybill to be delivered to someone at another location, at times many miles away. Some of these drivers most of the time do not tell the truth about their location. As soon as the waybill is handed over to them, they always call the receiver almost immediately to alert him or her of the waybill transaction. As soon as he leaves the loading point he will start to lie about his location. The right thing for such a driver to do is to call the receiver alerting him or her of the waybill but the wrong thing to do is to lie about his location. Such a driver is not frosting the cake. Rather, he is defrosting the cake. I always wonder why a driver will lie about his location and then end up causing unnecessary inconvenience for the receiver at the other end in terms of waiting time and so on. The receiver deserves to know the truth in order to know how to manage his or her time and location. Unfortunately, in some waybill transactions, nobody is innocent because at times the receiver has his or her own problems too.
Now if you look around you, you will notice proliferation of stands for the following items among others: Fruits and vegetables, cashew nuts and groundnuts. At this point let me share this experience in the wake of the construction going on at the Ekwulọbịa flyover construction site.
One evening I came to my regular cashew nuts supplier to buy a bottle of cashew nuts. She stays on the south end of the flyover construction site.
As soon as I arrived at the stand I placed my hand on top of the bottle on my left as my choice. I do this out of habit. With a sweet smile she redirected me to the one on my right all in silence without saying a word. Intuitively, I knew that the one on my right was a new arrival and cashew nuts that have stayed long in a bottle taste differently. She did what she did to satisfy a regular and a reliable customer. I find that interesting and satisfying. That is frosting the cake.
Equally interesting if not the most interesting is the fact that when the bottles are emptied she comes to the house and buys the bottles back. Since I became a customer she has bought more than 150 empty bottles.
With this experience do you think I will continue doing business with her? Of course I will because she knows how to frost the cake. I have no reason to take my money elsewhere but I have every reason to keep my money with her. I take my money elsewhere only when she is not there.
In addition to the above, another area that needs our attention is convenient stores. In this part of our world we call them provision stores. Provision stores at times are located adjacent to each other or opposite each other and these people are selling almost the same items. That means they are operating in a very competitive environment. Survival could therefore be a tough one. The only difference could be how you treat your customers. You have to frost the cake.
Now we are not leaving petrol stations, building materials, POS terminals and hotels behind. These are also almost everywhere especially POS terminals. Competition could be too stiff. To survive in a competetive environment you have to stand out. For example for petrol stations, easy access and easy exit are all added advantage. A customer can be attracted to a particular petrol station because he or she can easily come and easily go out as well. Petrol station owners should consider this as an important factor when locating and choosing a site for their stations.
You’ll also agree with this. Almost every residential building along a major road in most part of Igbo land has at least a store as a part of the building. Those yet to build have that in their building plans. That means more stores selling similar items. For these businesses to survive they have to frost the cake.
One thing you’ll also agree with is that apart from the people you know and people who know you but you don’t know them and this includes family members, friends and total strangers who are likely to patronize your business, a part of your success depends on how you frost the cake for these customers. We are talking of doing it sincerely not just for the sake of getting business. When you fake it your customers will know and when you are sincere, your customers will also know. Everything has to be from the heart. You have to sincerely appreciate your customers and this can be done, using the following lines.
We are glad you are here, We are glad you came, Thank you for coming, Please come and see us again, We are sorry! It won’t happen again, We’ll miss you!, You are great!, How may I help you?, You are wonderful, We cannot do without you, You are blessed, We appreciate your business, We appreciate you for appreciating us, You are one of our bests, God will bless you even more, We need you here. God bless you, You are already blessed, You are a precious gift to humanity, Thank you for your pstronage, You will be missed.
That’s not the end.
Frosting the cake is not necessarily exchange of some kind of monetary gift or other form of free gift. Frosting the cake could mean price reduction in cost of products or services purchased. Big American businesses like Walmart, Target, Amazon etc. and airlines organize special sales from time to time. We all like deals on products or services.
Frosting the cake could take the form of customer friendly WhatsApp or Facebook chat. Frosting the cake could also take the form of short “thank you” note written on “post it note” or a piece of paper to show appreciation.
It is not mandatory that you say or do any of these things. You have the right not to reduce your price of items or services. You also have the right to conduct your business all in silence but will it worth doing so. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
Frosting the cake is for both small and big businesses. No matter how small or how large your business is, you need satisfied customers for your success. Satisfied customers and referrals translate into success.
Frosting the cake could make a difference in the success or failure of any business be it a product oriented or a service oriented business. So you have two choices to choose from: 1) Frosting the cake or 2) Defrosting the cake.
So, are you in business? Do you frost the cake or do you defrost the cake? Make a wise choice and stay with it.
The article is an excerpt from an unpublished manuscript by Paul Chika Emekwulu titled, “The Magic of Frosting the Cake – Making More Sales and Getting More Clients It is due to be released early 2025.
