STOP delivery "customer satisfaction" When your client wants and demands MORE

Being SATISFIED is about MEDIOCRITY.

When someone says they are “satisfied” it means they are happy, have had enough, or got what they needed. It’s about reaching an average state… it’s not “Dissatisfied” and it’s not “Ecstatic”… it’s being Satisfied. With all the options available to us in the B2B or B2C marketplace, this is just hitting the bare minimum.

This is an “old term” from my perspective…it does not accurately represent the business climate of the 20th century. Many years ago, it was cool to “satisfy your customers”… today it’s just getting ahead and putting you at risk of losing your customers to the competition.

Let’s say you decide to take your spouse to a wonderful dinner somewhere or to a show or some other event to have fun and excitement. You say, “I really hope that this event will satisfy me.?” Or do you say, “I hope this event is as amazing. I am blown away with how amazing they will treat us.?” Which event do you want to go to? Sounds silly, doesn’t it?

But this is what a large number of businesses “target” with the experience they provide to their customers today…they want “satisfied customers” and even ask their customers if they are satisfied in their surveys. This is like asking them if we treated you mediocre and if your experience was average. And is this supposed to lead to more sales, more referrals, and more word of mouth?

And then we ask our teams why we don’t get more sales from our customers or new customers or word of mouth… the answer was in front of us from the beginning.

NO ONE TALKS ABOUT MEDIOCRITY!

Word of mouth is generated because something wonderful happened…something exceeded our expectations and our wildest imagination of what would happen. You show up at the restaurant and they know you by name, they seat you in front of the fireplace, and they have a traveling band that plays your spouse’s favorite song while you dine. The owner stops and sits with you for a minute and shares how the dishes were prepared or some “back story” about the restaurant so you have a more personal connection. That’s not average… that’s exaggerated! That’s not mediocre and to be “satisfied” is to provide an amazing experience.

Or you want to order some replacement products from your local dealer and they tell you they’ll send a special truck and deliver them today because you mentioned you’re really overwhelmed and can’t go pick them up before closing and you need to call them tomorrow… and there’s no charge for helping you in a pinch. And when they arrive, they even offer to help him put them away in his storage and give him a hand because they know he’s short on time. This is incredible!

Or you can’t decide on the size and color of a particular product you’re interested in when you talk to the customer representative and they tell you they’ll send you all the options you’re considering, free of charge, so you can choose what works best. for you in the privacy of your own home and simply return non-functioning ones… free of charge.

Imagine the last time you went to a Disneyland property. If I asked you to list all the things that made it special, memorable, and remarkable, I doubt you’d mention the wrinkles or the food. I would list how you were treated at the “happiest place on earth” from the moment you arrived and throughout your visit. How you felt, how they treated you, how they made you and your family feel special. This is not mediocre…not average…not even great…it’s amazing and amazing!

These are examples of WOW… these are examples of how a CUSTOMER OBSESSED organization interacts with and treats its customers. These are examples of a company that isn’t content with providing “satisfaction”… only content when it provides WOW, awesome and incredible. This is how EXTRAORDINARY companies operate… and one we’d all rather buy from… and one we’d do our best to tell others about.

This is what your customer really wants… without DEMANDS… because it’s what you want too. You want to WOW…you want to be wowed by being treated in a way where you feel like you are truly cared for and special. We all do…we don’t want to be “satisfied”…we want to be impressed with special treatment!

And if you’re thinking this is too expensive and you have to give things away to deliver it, you’re missing the point of customer obsession. Making your client feel special and amazing isn’t about giving them more stuff…it’s about how you make them feel. It’s about how you take care of them and treat them… not the things. Anyone can give things away… this is just a commodity. What’s critical and different is whether they feel special and important and like a customer you really care about… or whether they feel like a number, or one among many, or just a demographic in your targeting strategy.

Becoming customer obsessed is an investment in a “long tail” strategy that creates differentiation, uniqueness, and massive word of mouth. When you invest in your client, they pay you back… over and over and over again. Not just because they become loyal customers, but because they become ADVOCATES…someone who goes out of their way to tell others how amazing you are. This is how they essentially “market to you” because they are your advocate.

This never, ever happens when they are SATISFIED…it happens when they feel special…when they know you are 100% committed and focused on giving them an amazing experience. Satisfied is what everyone else does today… AWESOME is what sets you apart from the pack.

Here’s the challenge… do your own personal audit of the current customer experience. Look at your business from the “outside in” and see what your customer sees. Is what you are doing “satisfying” your customer and giving them a “good enough” or even “great” customer experience? If so, your client is asking for more… tell you in a survey or not. THEY WANT MORE and DESERVE MORE!

You deliver WOW, Incredible and Amazing and you’re delivering what companies beg to give them today. This is what they want… this is what WE ALL WANT… this is what they deserve… this is true differentiation and what creates a BRAND that is talked about… a lot! This is word of mouth on steroids!