#3: Ten ways for turning the most demanding customers into most delighted.

Kelly Mooney wrote these Ten Demandments: Rules to Live By in the Age of the Demanding Customer by . I felt they were worth sharing with you.

Beyond all the hype about delighting customers by meeting and exceeding their expectations, is the simple reality that most businesses just don't come close to knowing what customers care about. Today's consumers expect more and tolerate less, in part because they have so many options. With the ever-expanding explosion of information readily available and easily accessible via the Internet, modern consumers are able to research and comparison shop an endless array of both products and services from the comfort of their own homes or offices. Welcome to the age of the demanding consumer.

Mooney's Ten Demandments for turning the most demanding consumers into the most delighted customers are:

1. Earn my trust through respect, integrity, advocacy and quality.
2. Inspire me through immersive experiences, motivating messages and related philanthropy.
3. Make it easy with simplicity, speed and usefulness.
4. Put me in charge of making choices and give me control.
5. Guide me with expert advice, education and information.
6. Give me 24/7 access, from anywhere, at anytime.
7. Get to know me — listen, learn and study me, the real consumer, not just data.
8. Exceed my expectations with uncommon courtesies and surprising services.
9. Reward me with points programs, privileges of access or other worthwhile extras.
10. Stay with me with follow through and meaningful follow-up.

A detailed description of four of the key demandments follows in this series of blog entries. Mooney provides specific action items you can use to tackle the challenges of the ever-demanding customer and secure your company's future.

Demandment #8: Exceed My Expectations
Managing expectations can be a tricky business: set them too high and they're hard to meet, set them too low and undersell what you offer. From the consumer perspective, Exceed My Expectations is about sending consumers on an exciting journey that takes them from trust to loyalty, from expectation to delight. In forging an invisible but tenable bridge to the opposite side of the transactional equation, you prove that your company delivers on its original promise, and then goes above and beyond. Doing something out of the ordinary, even far more than necessary, proves again and again that your customers will get more than they pay for, or even anticipate, each and every time they do business with you.
Exceeding expectations encompasses things such as offering an apology before anyone even complains about a minor problem, being proactive rather than reactive, fixing those little things that aren't quite right, and making amends in big ways when even a small response would suffice. In Mooney's words: "it's about being better than you have to be, not only because your consumers expect or demand it, but because they deserve it."

Mooney presents several methods for successfully exceeding your consumer expectations.

• Overcompensate. Put services and features in place to make up for channel or competitive deficiencies or weaknesses. For example, Mooney's favorite local toy store stands out from the industry giants by offering free gift-wrapping on all purchases year-round.
• Do more than you should. Make "delivering more than we promise" the philosophy of your company. Remember the idea of the "baker's dozen," giving a regular customer thirteen instead of twelve rolls? Little things can go a surprisingly long way like the little static sticker Jiffy Lube puts on your windshield as a reminder of your next oil change.
• Surprise me with extras. Promote extras designed to delight consumers even when they seem happy and satisfied. Small, on-the-spot incentives can inspire spending — one successful "extra" was Victoria's Secret offering $5 off any purchase simply for trying on a Body by Victoria bra.
• Uncommon courtesies. Have employees willingly extend apologies and have definitive guidelines for immediately satisfying a customer. In other words, turn on the charm, dial up the sincerity, and you will win customers over. And train your employees about the importance of customer appreciation. Target's sales associates are trained to make eye contact and offer a warm "Thanks so much for shopping with us."
  Exceeding expectations is about delivering an experience that transcends the actual purchase or service — it's that intangible "WOW!" And, exceeding expectations isn't about providing perfection, but rather it's about enthusiastic, relevant responsiveness to consumer needs.

What say you? Comments? Ideas?


Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
www.customerfocusconsult.com