Last night, our dinner reservation at the Italian restaurant on the ship was canceled. We were confused, especially when we saw that there was a new reservation for a party of 6. I’m not a great people person, and the idea of eating with strangers at a table was not appealing.

We went to the restaurant and explained the situation. The host asked, “You didn’t get the invitation?” We did not. Then he added, “I’m so sorry, the Captain invited you and your wife to have a private dinner with him and the ships Chief Finance Officer.”

We asked why we were afforded this honor, but the host had no idea. We asked our butler, and she was surprised as well. When the Captain arrived for dinner, we asked him, and he said, “Maybe it’s just because you are very nice people.”

We still don’t know why the dinner happened, but it was a wonderful evening. The Captain in Italian, and we had a great time talking about food and wine.

There were many other surprises our butler had for us when we came to our suite in the evening, and they added to our luxury experience.

All of that, coupled with a special offer if we booked our next cruise while on board, motivated us to do just that. The “future cruise director,” aka “salesman,” earned a nice commission.

If you’re not doing it already, you might want to think about how you can do some simple things to surprise and delight your clients.

I’d make a virtual certain bet that your competitors aren’t doing that, and if you do it, you’ll increase your profits without working harder.

Kick butt, make mucho DEEnero!

Dave “Aye, aye, Captain” Dee