Two tornadoes hit my town on Friday and did some damage. Some people lost their homes, but no one lost their lives. By comparison, my neighbourhood and my family got off easy. With much of the power grid knocked offline for a few days, all we immediately needed to make things right was coffee.

At just after 7:00am of that first morning without power, my neighbour texted from across the street with an offer for hot coffee. Pretty soon, he had a coffee party going on. Everyone showed up, sleepy-eyed with an empty mug and hope.

Through social media, people were offering power from generators for phones and hot showers and shelter. I could write you stories all day long about people doing good for their fellow citizens. It was really nice, and of course, this got me thinking.

The heart of nice is empathy.

When someone gets it, when they understand you, they are nice to you. They don’t make you explain or plead your case. They don’t quote policies that forbid them from making a difference. They don’t make it worse; they make it better.

Of course, when a tornado hits a town, it’s really easy to find hero stories – the stores handing out free food, the restaurants to serving free meals on the street, and if you want to make a donation, that would be nice too.

But there is an opportunity for empathy every day, and maybe it’s even more appreciated when we are not in a state of emergency. Maybe it matters just as much, or maybe more, when we are buying stamps, or dropping off kids, or shopping for windows.

When I buy a business class seat for more money, the flight attendant is nicer to me.

When I check into a hotel and the desk staff sees my status, odds are they are going to be extra nice to me.

If I give the valet a big tip to park my car, chances are he is going to be nice to me too.

So here is the question: If all I want, the only extra consideration, is for someone to be nice to me when I visit your business, how much extra does that cost? How much extra to talk to a nice person, who is present and tuned in when I call to book an appointment or for tech support? How much extra to find a nice person at the counter who smiles? Would you pay $7.37 extra to have the ticketing person smile at you when she sells you an economy class seat to Newark? Of course, you would!

I own a business too.

I know you’re rushed and stressed and maybe even a little temporarily overcommitted. I know your team deals with hundreds or thousands of customers, and I know that some of them are not always nice. And I know that some of your customers (who knows, maybe a lot) would be willing to pay a little more to get that one thing they really want.

I think there is a huge gap between what people are willing to pay for nice (lots) and what I think it would cost a business to deliver it (next to nothing).

Seems like an opportunity to me.