On a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best), how do you rank your company’s customer service?  How many of you answered 10?  How many of you know, deep in your gut, that it is not a 10?  How many of you exceed your customer’s expectations?

On a scale of 1 to 10, your minimum customer service goal should start at 11 and go up from there.  Most customers EXPECT a 10 when it comes to customer service, you need to exceed that.  Meeting your customer’s expectations cannot be your goal, exceeding your customers expectations is necessary.

How do you know what your customer’s expectations are?  One simple way to find out is to simply ask them.  If I walked into the coffee shop next to my office and they asked me what my expectations are when I get my coffee, it would be simple, smile, ask me how I’m doing, and keep the line moving so I can get in and out quickly.  Those are my base expectations, or a 10 on the customer service scale.  What can they do to exceed that?

I’d like to share a recent terrific customer service experience I had.  I needed to have a couple diplomas plaqued so I called a trophy shop, Embassy Trophy, that I’ve been to a few times before.  I called on a Thursday around 2 and talked to Larry, the owner.  I couldn’t make it to the shop when they were open, so Larry asked if I could drop the diplomas off at his house on Saturday (shop is only open M-F) and he gave me his HOME address.  Saturday morning I went over to Larry’s house, rang his door bell, he answered and APOLOGIZED for the inconvenience (he lives 2 minutes from the shop).   It gets better.  2 weeks later when the diplomas were ready to be picked up, Larry called me and told me that he would leave the diplomas on his front porch so that I could pick them up on Saturday and for me to leave my business card in his mail box so he could send me an invoice.  He remembered that I couldn’t make it during the week and took it upon himself to fix this before I even brought it up.

This, to me, is a 15 on the customer service scale.  Here’s the power of customer service that exceeds expectations, I will go to Embassy Trophy every time and I will not shop for a better deal.  To me, Larry showed me he values me as a customer by exceeding my expectations, and now, I like giving Larry business.   

What can you and your business do to exceed your customer’s expectations so that they enjoy the experience of doing business with you?