Cabela's, Customer-focused and Classy to the Core

I often advise my advertising clients to look for opportunities to "surprise and delight" their customers. This advice is as much the product of experience as it is of education and training.

Recently I received a letter and package from Cabela's. The letter read, in part: "Thank you! This is your 10-year anniversary as a Cabela's CLUB Visa member, and we feel fortunate to have you as a customer. ... As a token of our appreciation for your loyalty, we'd like to give you the enclosed Cabela's Folding Lockback Knife commemorating our partnership..."

Accompanying the letter was an attractively boxed wood-handled pocket knife.

This little gesture on their part is the most recent illustration of how Cabela's has consistently, unfailingly impressed me with their customer-focused approach to business.

It's an approach that has taken them from a couple of brothers tying flies at the kitchen table and selling them via classified ads in OUTDOOR LIFE to their current undisputed reign as "The World's Foremost Outfitter."

What are you doing to surprise and delight your customers?