Client Satisfaction or Delight?

By Robert Middleton - Action Plan Marketing

Here's what most business owners don't get:

It's not enough to satisfy clients, you need to delight them. The good news is that this really works. The bad news is that it takes more thought and effort than the average business owner is willing to give.

I recently went on a vacation to Sedona Arizona, as I mentioned last week. Well, Sedona itself certainly delights. It's a natural wonder and the spectacular red hills, desert pants and breathtaking hiking trails don't need any marketing help.

But it's a different case with the restaurants.

I'd like to compare two for you.

The first night we went to Hiro's Sushi. Like most Japanese restaurants, the food quality was excellent. Everything tasted great and the portions were generous. We enjoyed our meal. They were definitely giving us satisfaction for money spent.

But the place was the definition of boring. They had taken over from another restaurant six weeks ago. The previous restaurant had bad food, so at least they were an improvement. But other than putting in a sushi bar, not one thing had changed.

They were just marking time. Just getting the food out there. Nothing special. It could have been any other Japanese restaurant in the world. As they say, nothing to write home about.

Then a couple days later, on a recommendation, we were sent to a Mexican restaurant called Elote.

The location wasn't too exciting. We had to wait an hour to get in. But when we did - ay caramba! This wasn't an ordinary Mexican restaurant. In fact, it was better than any restaurant I'd been to in Mexico.

The dishes were indescribable, but I'll try. Their signature dish is called "Elote" which consists of roasted corn scraped off the cob and then mixed with mayonnaise and spices. Beyond belief.

We weren't that hungry, so we ordered appetizers. There was more food than in most main courses. I got chicken mole tacos and my wife got shrimp tacos. The sauces were unbelievable. I can still taste them.

The service was also spectacular. We felt we were the most important guests in the world with a waitress who appeared to be the most cheerful person on the planet.

Now that's what I mean by delighted.

When you go to Sedona some day (and you must!) what are you going to check out first, Hiro's or Elote?

Wish they delivered to Boulder Creek!

www.elotecafe.com/

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The More Clients Bottom Line: If you're only satisfying your clients, I promise you, it's not enough! These days people want even more value for their money. You have to delight them, go the extra mile and provide more than service, but an experience that is memorable.

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How do you delight your clients? Please share on the More Clients Blog. Just click on the Comments link below.

Comments

[Secured Loans]

Spot on. You need to give customers an experience that they will not forget. For the RIGHT reasons.

[Lynn Belzer]

I love the "delighting" concept. I do that by: making their coaching with me fun & upbeat, working to identify even their baby steps in forwarding their goals, giving clients my utmost attention, reminding them to "breathe", and helping them see the glass as half full rather than half empty. I think it works, in that their feedback has been great.

[Yvonne Finn]

Hello Robert,
Thanks for sharing and reminding us all to give more than we are being "paid" for, whether through employment or self-employment.

I delight my client by never making them feel like part of a nameless , faceless blob.
I hear people talking about clients and customers as if they are not unique individuals.
I work in the financial industry and NO two situation is every the same, none.
You must treat and convey this awareness to your client/customer.
Yvonne Finn

[Ian Brodie]

There's a ton of hard evidence on the importance of this too.

Raintoday.com's recent survey aked buyers of professional services about their satisfaction with their current provider, and whether they were likely to switch.

The results showed that 70%+ of those clients who were satisfied (a 4 out of 5 score) would be open to switching supplier. But less than 50% of those who were delighted (a 5 out of 5 score) would.

As they put it in the research - satisfaction is binary: if you delight them they'll likely stay. Only satisfy them and they'll likely switch

Ian

[Judy Murdoch]

When I saw the word "delight" in the article title I was delighted and I love being delighted!

Couple thoughts your article inspired:

1. Describing the experience of delight is tricky. You tried and I know you're a good writer and even you didn't have words to describe the pleasure you got from the restaurant's food.

Unless you can write like Proust (or Julia Child), it's a good idea to use pictures and videos, etc to help people experience delight in more than one dimension.

2. "Delighting Customers" is not a marketing objective so much as a by-product. I know I begin with doing what delights me and makes my heart want to get up and dance. Usually if I'm delighted my clients will be as well.

Did I mention how much I love the idea of "delighting" clients?

Thanks for inspiring me this morning Robert!

Peace,
Judy

[Jeanne Hurlbert]

This is awesome advice . . .We HAVE to set the bar high on delighting our customers, if we want our businesses to grow. And all too often, businesspeople don't have any idea of whether their customers really ARE delighted--they think if they get some positive comments on the blog, it's all OK. But you're likely to hear just from the ones who really love you or really hate you. We have to continually measure what they think with a survey system, so we can continually improve our performance--and increase their delight!