Exceed your customers’ expectations

Author - Mick Merrick

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Exceed your customers’ expectations

There is one thing you absolutely must do if you are to ensure you keep your customers – exceed their expectations. There is nothing more toxic than a dissatisfied customer.
 
There is another, equally important reason why you should exceed their expectations – that is how you get a good stream of quality referrals from them.
 
So, given that we know how important it is, how do we do that?
 
First of all, it is key that we manage their expectations in the first place. If you are providing a service that the customers are familiar with – servicing a car for example – the key is to do it better than your competitors, and to provide a few extra touches that they didn’t expect. Some customers may never have used your type of service before, and so they may not know what to expect. When you first start dealing with them, you therefore need to ensure you explain carefully what you will do for them and what they can expect by way of results. Then, you ensure that you are able to deliver more than that. Ryan Air are masters of this. They provide probably the worst service in their industry, but they set their customer expectations so low that they actually have a high satisfaction rating.
 
Whilst we don’t recommend the Ryan Air approach to customer service, there is still a very important lesson we can learn. Most importantly, ensure you have clearly explained, and your customer has understood, what you will be providing, and be careful, especially in your sales presentations, not to set the bar too high.
 
Another weekend of sporting success, it is now becoming increasingly difficult for our sporting stars to “exceed our expectations”, this is the subject of our sales tip today.