A business can’t operate without customers. Likewise, customers need businesses to fulfill their needs or requirements. That’s the nature of business. It’s always a two-way interaction, and there is always giving and taking.
Every transaction, interaction, and touch point with our customers or clients are what I like to call “exchanges”. Hundreds of millions of exchanges are taking place daily in businesses around the world, it could be as simple as someone buying a cup of coffee at the local cafe, a salesperson calling a prospect, or a routine supply delivery to a client.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at why the quality of exchanges is an important aspect of any ideal business.
What Does An Exchange Mean For Ideal Businesses?
When we engage in business, we’re always in a constant state of exchange with people. Customers provide time, money, and support in exchange for our services and products.
Exchanges are pivotal moments of truth that define your customer’s impression of your business. The quality of exchange a business creates has a major impact on its survival, growth, and expansion.
In other words, higher levels of exchanges increase the level of success a business can achieve.
Business Exchange: Delivering More Than Expected
Think about this for a moment, when was the last time you were blown away by the amazing quality of service you received from a restaurant? It was very likely that the restaurant went above and beyond your expectations.
What happens next? You would very likely tell your friends about the great experience. You would return, and bring others with you too. What took place there was a high-quality exchange – the whole dining experience was beyond your expectations.
Ideal businesses strive to produce this kind of excellent service at every level of interaction with their customer. Their systems and processes are built around the idea of delivering beyond customer expectations.
The Three Levels Of Exchange
Now that you have a better understanding of what an exchange means for your company, let’s take a look at the types of exchanges and how they impact your business.
Below Expectations
This is an experience, interaction, or transaction so underwhelming and disappointing that it results in customer or client dissatisfaction.
Normal Expectations
This is the category that most average businesses fall into. Exchanges here are the minimum expected or even good but it’s not amazing, so the customer’s impression remains slightly neutral.
Beyond Expectations
These are exchanges that were so amazing that you leave your customers or clients in utter delight. It’s not always those remarkable interactions that create experiences that go beyond expectations, rather they are often the result of a series of small details that add up to make an over-and-beyond exchange.
The Three Levels Of Exchange – Restaurant Example
These three levels of exchange apply to all kinds of business. Here’s a real-world demonstration of the three levels of exchange using a restaurant as an example.
Below Expectations
Upon arrival at the restaurant, you are surprised to learn, despite confirmation, that your reservation wasn’t in the system. So you wait 15 minutes for the next available table. After getting seated, a waiter comes over and hands over the menu. 20 minutes go by and your waiter hasn’t checked in yet – so you raise your hand to beckon the waiter. It takes another 45 minutes for your food to arrive and worse, it’s cold. After dinner, you go on your cell phone and leave a scathingly negative review, and vow to never return.
Normal Expectations
Upon arrival at the restaurant, you are pleasantly greeted by the hostess who confirms your booking and promptly escorts you to your table. A waiter immediately arrives and hands over the menu. After taking your order, the food arrives hot. It’s a delicious meal, as expected, it’s a nice restaurant after all. You finish your dinner and off you go. It was a satisfying and good experience, to say the least.
Beyond Expectations
Before arriving at the restaurant, you receive a call from the restaurant reminding you of your table reservation at 6:00 PM. Upon arrival, you are greeted warmly by the staff who knows you by name and sits you at your favorite spot.
The waiter arrives with the menu, he mentions that there’s a special on the menu tonight and asks if you would like to try it. As your food is being served, your waiter then proceeds to give a short brief about the food you just ordered. Before he leaves, he asks if there is anything else that you need, to which you delightfully say no. After the meal, the owner comes over to your table to ask about the food and if you had a great time. You respond with “It was amazing, I’m bringing my colleagues here next time”.
Do you see the difference between the three? Of course, we’d like to say that our business doesn’t fall under the first category which was just an appalling experience.
Take a look at the second exchange, it wasn’t bad, suffice to say that it was actually good – but that was the customer’s expectation walking into the restaurant.
The last exchange, the whole experience was simply delightful from start to finish, the smallest details made the experience an amazing one. That’s often the case, your customers and clients pay attention to the small details as they add up to make the sum of an amazing exchange.
What Are The Benefits Of Delivering Above and Beyond Exchanges?
Many average businesses don’t appreciate the benefits of providing exceptional exchanges. They settle for mediocrity by delivering the bare minimum and then wonder why their customers jump the fence as soon as a new competitor arrives.
The best benefit for me is the crazy amount of word-of-mouth it generates. Referrals are the best form of marketing that pays many times over. According to one survey, 72% of customers will tell six or more people if they have a satisfying experience.
I’ve also outlined some of the other benefits of delivering above-and-beyond exchanges:
- Higher recurring revenue
- Increased sales
- Improved employee satisfaction
- Lower acquisition costs for new customers
- Increased customer loyalty
- Positive brand image on the internet due to great reviews
- Client referrals and positive word-of-mouth marketing
My Secret Formula For Going Beyond Expectations
As customers, we will usually have an idea of what to expect from an exchange with a business. The minimum expectation is usually the product, service, or outcome that we seek from an interaction.
Oftentimes, salesmen would promise all sorts of things and highlight every single benefit as to why their product or service is the best. Do you know what is the problem with that? By laying all of their cards on the table, you take out the surprise factor.
Since your customers now know what to expect, their level of expectation begins at a high level. What happens when those high expectations aren’t met? Dissatisfaction.
The secret formula is: Underpromise + Overdeliver
You don’t want to lay all your cards on the table. Purposefully reserve some gas in the tank and don’t go all out when providing info on your services or products. Don’t go all out in your communications and your marketing. Don’t tell your customers everything that you do. Hold back. And when it’s time to deliver, go over the top to deliver in abundance.
Delivering over and above is all about expectations. Expectations ruin the surprise factor. If you state all services, features, and benefits as part of your package, the expectation grows. But when you lower their expectations and then deliver in abundance, the effect is unforgettable and phenomenal.
How Can Businesses Improve Exchanges
It’s all about attention to detail and providing the highest level of customer experience possible at each step of their journey. The key here is to strategically infuse delivering in abundance into your systems and processes so that every exchange in your customer’s journey becomes consistently exceptional.
Here are some ways to do this:
- Look at what you can value-add to your products or services.
- Scrutinize your processes and procedures to see which ones aren’t delivering optimal experiences for your clients.
- Find ways to incorporate those value-adding elements into your standard operating procedures.
- This is probably the best tip I can give: Create an after-sales survey for your customers to fill out and gain insights on what’s working and what can be improved.
At my company, Resicert, small details are given equal importance. Here are some of the best practices that helped us deliver in abundance at every step of the customer’s journey.
- We don’t use jargon when communicating with our customers.
- We keep them constantly informed through communications and always keep them in the loop on the status of the job.
- Clients receive a brief and debrief call from our representatives.
- We keep our promises, always follow up and follow through.
- Complaints are taken very seriously, and if any lapses were made, prompt customer recovery is made.
These are just some of the small tweaks we’ve done and the collective effect on our business is just mind-blowing. To date, we have an average satisfaction score of 93% from our surveys. That’s over 10,000 genuine reviews.
Resicert has generated millions of dollars in revenue as a result of providing excellent service and delivering value that goes above and beyond our client’s expectations.
Stand Out From Your Competitors By Delivering In Abundance
Hopefully, I was able to convince you of the influence that an exchange has on your business. Exchanges are the perfect opportunities to show customers why your business is the better choice. It cements loyalty and creates raving fans who tell others all about your product.
In today’s relentless market where customers and clients demand the best, competitors are out there ready to pounce on your mistakes. Ideal businesses create memorable service and deliver exceptional exchanges that keep customers coming back.
Delivering in abundance comes at minimal costs but creates the maximum effect. Customers whose expectations were surpassed tell their friends about the experience. They become raving fans. They become your most loyal customers.
An ideal business stands out simply by being outstanding in all its exchanges and interactions with customers and stakeholders.
Take a look at your business, and ask yourself these questions:
- What are the areas in your business processes where you can add more value at a minimal cost?
- What would you change in your standard operating procedure from a customer or client perspective that would greatly enhance the quality of your service or product?
- How satisfied would you be if you were the customer of your business? Would the experience go beyond your expectations or below expectations?
It’s often the sum of small tweaks in your business that create the biggest impact. Your customers or clients will surely notice the differences if you keep doing it consistently.
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