When we got to the front of the line my wife ordered a chicken burrito bowl. The young lady behind the counter informed us that they were currently out of chicken and that it would be about five minutes before they had any more. We all wanted chicken so we quietly stepped aside to let others behind us order.

It couldn’t have even been five minutes later when the young lady motioned to us that the chicken had been replenished and they were ready for us. We proceeded through the line as usual and came to the register to pay. It was at that point that the manager said, “It’s on me. I’m paying for your lunch since you had to wait.”

I think we may have slightly protested, but he insisted and apologized for the wait. My wife’s response had to be music to his ears. “I already loved Chipotle, now I love it even more,” she said with a big smile.

As I walked away from the counter to find a table I couldn’t help but think about what that young manager had just done. I even talked about it briefly with my wife and daughter as we ate our lunch.

I thought, “That’s a smart business person.” Yeah he just gave away $20, but I assure you that based on our experience, we’ll be back again and again.

My question for you today is, “What kind of customer experience are you creating?” Are you creating ho-hum experiences, or even worse, or are you creating “I love this place” type of experiences. The interesting thing is that it doesn’t have to be expensive to create the latter.

I’d like to share with you two more of the best ways I’ve seen to create positive customer experiences without giving away the farm.

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1. Consistently deliver on your brand promise. This is pretty basic, but so many don’t do it. Consistency is the key to developing and maintaining a strong brand. When people know what to expect, and it meets a felt need, they’re more likely to come back for more.

Your brand doesn’t even have to be high-end to be effective. Take McDonalds for instance. When I was growing up (it seems so long ago) you always knew you could get a clean bathroom at McDonalds. It’s one of the reasons so many families who were traveling stopped at McDonalds for a meal. It certainly wasn’t for the dining experience. Or was it?

Actually, I’ve come to believe it was not only for the bathrooms but also for the dining experience itself. But not because it was so great. Rather, because it met a basic need, and we knew exactly what kind of experience we were going to get. The burgers and fries tasted the same whether we were in Arizona or Minnesota or Pennsylvania. We were rarely, if ever, disappointed.

2. Be honest with them. I know that can be scary at times, but honesty really is the best policy. I had a customer many years ago, when I was the COO of another company, who told us that one of the main reasons they continued to do business with us was not that we were perfect or flawless, but that we were honest about our mistakes and addressed them swiftly.

This was a very large and profitable customer for us and it would have been very costly to lose them. One production cycle we made a huge error in scheduling. Rather than fabricating something to keep us from looking bad, I was blatantly honest with the V.P. of Operations.

She was one of the toughest customers I’ve ever had. She never minced words. She was very blunt and very demanding. But I always knew where I stood with her and she trusted me implicitly because I’d been honest and quick to act on numerous occasions.

In this instance she drilled me with questions, pressing me for information and firm commitments for where we were headed. Again, I was straightforward, and continued to keep her in the loop as the process unfolded. She remained a faithful customer for many years, even beyond when I left the company.

In Patrick Lencioni’s book, Getting Naked, he says that the main reason we stray from honesty is fear of losing the business. But, he posits, that naked honesty is actually refreshing to customers and usually builds the relationship rather than hurting it.