Thanks Kevin and Jeff.
Jeff, we've tested icons before and haven't been able to see that much of an improvement in open rates. Here's an article from Bronto on using symbols: 
And here's a link to a listing of symbols: Miscellaneous Symbols - Wikipedia
I think the challenge is finding easy to view symbols that are relevant.

GREAT POST! We are seeing about one third of all of our shoppers coming from mobile sites now, and even more of them are using their smart phones to read emails that we send back to them. This is invaluable info that all dealers should be taking advantage of.

dealerrefresh we already use them.

dealerrefresh Yes 4 sure, they would really be getting into CarFox's market share, over the past year many in my ncm20 group have switched

DKEverett2 I believe it. This would be a good time for AutoCheck to start a branding campaign.

dealerrefresh Yes we should, AutoCheck has the same product as CarFox if not a little better and its a fraction of the cost.

Looks like we will be choosing a winner today! Anyone with a last minute entry better get in on it now!

Looks like we will be choosing a winner today! Anyone with a last minute entry better get in on it now!

dealerrefresh The new Fusions are beautiful machines! Congrats : )

Thanks to everyone for the great responses!  TOMORROW is the last day to get your submissions in!  Tell your friends / colleagues / family / pets to post their Surprises on here and they will be registered for a fun random drawing.  Get it done by tomorrow folks!!!!

Rwiesman Nice! If you're familiar with Gary Vaynerchuk, you've probably heard him tell a story similar to yours.  In his early days selling wine online, he sent some sweet sports swag to a big time client of his.  Robert, way to crush it like GaryVee!

I live by the rule of over promising then over delivering! I always have Cars picked out and ready for the guest, as well as have pens, tablets, stickers, magnets, etc with my branding on them set aside to give the guests when they arrive. Another thing I like to do with some of my top clients is of course hook up with them on social. After that I will check out their page and posts to see what they are interested in. For example I have a client who has purchased 4 vehicles for his house hold and sent me over 10 deals in less then a 2 year period. I saw on his Facebook page that he was obsessed with Ben Rothelsberger (Steelers quarterback). So what I did was go to eBay, purchased a beautiful signed plaque of Big Ben and had it sent to him. He was SHOCKED and so happy! He is no matter what never going to think of another soul but Robert Wiesman when he or anyone he knows is shopping for a vehicle. Shock and Awe baby!

Mitch Gallant Thanks for the article link! I've personally come to enjoy the HBR blog immensely.  To me, #4 is particularly interesting.  On a macro-level, speed will be the name of the game there for big companies / brands.  How quickly can you adapt these conversations, features, and messages to an impulse shopper?  When you think about a micro-level, isn't this what we do in the more intimate B2B and B2C sales already?
Sandra Leigh Slaterback Sandra, thanks so much for the story and insight.  Your actions to get current are exactly what I'm talking about.  From a hiring point of view, how unexpected and refreshing to hear that.  Instead of "I hope to catch up as soon as possible if hired," you're able to say "I've busted my butt to catch up, put in work and effort, and thought outside the box!"

I am not trying to surprise a coworker, a customer, or a manager. I am trying to surprise, by the use of positive actions, the General Manager of a dealership I want to work in; it is in the heart of San Francisco and completely indoors. All the inventory, parts and service, and even customer - employee parking are indoors on 7 floors plus a roof of a building that is 99 years old and has been completely renovated. It was built as a distributor all those years ago. I have had a successful career in Finance and Sales Management for over 20 years, however, I have had to for personal family needs been out of the dealershp setting for a 5-6 years. I know a lot has changed, but I'm confident in my ablitiy.
This began over 6 weeks ago when I saw an ad for sales staff and a description of the new "state of the art facility". I answered the ad stating that I was interested in a Finance Manager/or Director's position and with a new facility come more sales, hence the need for more sales staff and that should equal the need as well in the Finance Department. I got no reply. Since this is a Penske owned dealership and I have one Penske General Manager in my 1st level of connections, I sent her a message asking if I had approached this company with a touch of creative thinking?  She answered the next day only to tell me, yes, that they encourage thinking out of the box and oh, by the way, this dealership is the one that she is now managing. WOW! Her profile said nothing of which store she worked for only that it was San Francisco Bay Area, and that leaves the door wide open. She went on to say that at the moment, there was no need, but that she had seen my resume and sent it on to Penke's Corporate HR Department and not to be discouraged if it took a while to hear anything. She even invited me stop by and see this incredible place next time I was in the city. So, I moved on, had a few recruiters want to represent me, saw a few other dealers on my own, and had a few offers, but not one viable to make that move to the bay area.
Next thing I see is and ad for San Francisco Nissan-Infiniti and they now need a Fianance Manager. I send my resume as instructed and a BCC to her directly. She called the next day and recalled our first contact. We made plans to meet the following Monday and did, it all went very well. She is clearly a hard working woman who wanted to go to the NADA Academy and paid her due to get there through the Penske Organization. I was impressed by this and her overall confident yet relaxed demeanor. We spoke for over an hour; as we were wrapping it up, I asked what was I going to have to do to GET this job. She laughed and said I was an excellent candidate, she did have to make known this opportunity to the other Penske stores so to promote from within, however, she had one concern: I was not completely current. Finally, someone said what I had been thinking was the problem. She did give me disclosures for background and all to sign and fax back and said to bring the origninals back with me for round 2, so to speak. I went for a walk around the neighborhood and have not felt so happy in years. This is where I belong, there is no question. So, all the way home (2 hour drive) I am thinking "how do you get current if you're not working?"  I'll tell you how, you take your vehicle into the local Automall for regular service and try to find the owner of the Nissan store that you worked for in your first job over 25 years ago. He was out...for several days!
Next stop, still in the Automall, I went to the Infiniti store; I had to know "someone"  there, right?  Right! They welcomed my need with open arms and I am now fully educated on current Compliance and red flag regulations. I called her and told her my plan before executing it, and she told me I was the most creative person she had yet to meet and whether I came to work there or somewhere else it was a great idea. Positive, but not exactly what I was looking for.....next step: Being that all the inventory is indoors and not everyone knows what's going on in this gorgeous facility, without customers, that's all it is...on prime real estate. They were going to have to rely heavily on their website and anyother digital media possible. I connected with someone on LinkedIn who seemed to have a great system to dominate your market:  I forwared it on to her !  I also posted to their website what a fun place to shop for a car, ALL THE CARS ARE IN THIS GREAT BUILDING!  So, that's my attempt to become employed in the city of my dreams....I tried to surprise her.  I remain unemployed. No decision will be made until the first week of next month. I think anymore "surprises" may make me look more like a stalker than the best choice to hire.  That is where my story is as I type these words.

Surprised at the crickets... thought this would have blown up Mike! I really think you're onto to something huge. Just days ago in HBR there was a futurists look at marketing in 2020. I truly look forward to that type of marketing!

 A Futurist Looks at the Future of Marketing

Comment over on the blog for your chance to win!! We want to know what you do to surprise your customer.

Thanks guys!  Nice responses.  The flare of individuality in your examples are great.
Mitch Gallant Your Sales Reps are crazy not to take advantage of the $50!  That has repeat / referral business written all over it.  No doubt the surprise yoga subscription was talked about among the Mother's friends and family.

What a great post Mike, it get's folks out of their comfort zone to try and surprise others and it's such a strong way to build influence! Our small used car operation sales reps have the latitude to spend $50 per client as a thank you. It's completely unspoken during the deal. Unfortunately, most of the sales reps don't take advantage of it, maybe 25% of the time. There are a couple instances that stick out.
New to the area (1000 miles away from home), bought a truck in the dead of winter, bought them a shovel and some SK Roughrider mitts and 4 touques for each of the family... Roughriders are our pro football team, CFL, and it's a BIG DEAL around here. Made sure they'll fit in.
Single mom, excited to have a reliable vehicle, not very well off, got her a 6 month subscription for mother baby yoga. Made her cry(happy tears)  : )  :'(
We also have a Dairy Queen across the street from our dealership. Often enough we stock up the freezer with Dilly Bars and bring a few down after internet appointments (30%-50%) show up as a special way to say thank you for coming. Ice cream puts a smile on most faces. : D

Great post, Mike! You've written about one of my favorite aspects of persona development, and you've got some great ideas going. 
Surprises are memorable because they make positive traits participatory. The word you used, "stickiness" is definitely appropriate. Everyone wants to feel smart, and when you give someone a chance to figure something out about you, they'll be grateful. The internet has turned our lives into scavenger hunts, so oftentimes, all a person has to do is not tell someone else something interesting about themselves (a hobby, skill, talent, whatever) and wait for it to be discovered. This is the difference between annoying and intriguing, or interesting and legendary. No one wants a "Nard Dog" around them, constantly begging to be congratulated for their mediocre talents. The art of surprise requires restraint but exudes confidence.
Recently, I surprised one of the most passionate Suzuki fans on Instagram Login to view embedded media View: http://instagram.com/p/ZWO6PMK15r
 A fairly basic surprise, sure, but still meaningful for both of giver and receiver. The ripple effect of random generosity is pretty evident in the comments, too.

dealerrefresh Thanks, Jeff. Good luck to the dealer you're working with--the process sure can be grueling!

@Bill Simmons What's most interesting about the Google announcement that Blumenthal's post references is how it presents reviews as a burden that most businesses are looking to get rid of. For example, all of these scenarios deal only with review removal:
====
"Change of ownership
If you are the new owner or manager of an existing business that hasn't changed it's name, reviews will not be removed. You can use owner responses to respond to previous reviews and clarify any changes/improvements to the services your business is providing.
Change in name
If you are the new owner or manager of an existing business that has changed its name, reviews may be removed if your business meets specific criteria.Rebrand: Reviews can be removed from the listing if there's been a significant change in well known, distinct brand name changes. Hotels or fast food establishment that switch franchise affiliations or car dealers that specialize in a different makes of cars would qualify for review removal.Name changes related to change in underlying services: For instance, a business that switches from Jade’s Chinese Garden Restaurant to India Palace Restaurant, or Al’s Sporting Goods Store to Performance Bike Repair, would qualify for review removalPartners or other business affiliations that disassociate: For example, if Perkins and Rogers, Attorneys at Law becomes Perkins, Attorney at Law because Rogers has left the practice to form his own, all reviews would be detached. Note that all reviews would be removed, not just the ones that refer to a particular practitioner
Name changes that don't reflect core changes to the business's services aren't eligible for review removal. For example, if Dasha’s Dry Cleaner becomes Dasha’s Super Dry Cleaner, or JFK Limo Service becomes Super JFK Limo, reviews will remain in place."
====
Speaking of the hypothetical "Dasha's Dry Cleaner" example, I wonder how many businesses have tried to get reviews removed by making a minor name change like this? Would Google even mention such a thing if this practice was uncommon?
 Our complaint with Google reviews has always been that the ones we've earned don't stay on the page, not the other way around.

Mitch Gallant Thanks, Mitch. I'd be interested to hear about your experience with Google and wish you all the best for your transition. Do you have reviews and Google+ fan page content that you'll be trying to save?