Forget “Exceeding Customer Expectations” – How About Blowing Them Away? 5 Things To Consider

Forget “Exceeding Customer Expectations” – How About Blowing Them Away? 5 Things To Consider

“This has totally exceeded my expectations,” I declared over and over to my fellow travelers on my recent trek up Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, emphasis on TOTALLY.

With each day, the experience seemed to ramp up to the point of euphoria, not just from the joy of summiting but also from the journey to get there that had started 7 days prior form the Londorossi Gate.

What did I expect, I started to ask myself, realizing that I was now sounding like a parrot. I replayed the process leading up to the mountain to discern what my expectations were and how they came to be. For my expectations to be exceeded, I needed to acknowledge what I expected.

Upon booking, we had received a detailed itinerary of what we would be doing each day e.g. “Day 3: climb into the moorland over the Shira ridge and down to the plateau and the Shira 1 Camp.” From this, I had an idea of what to expect – long walks, a new camp each day, meals, porters carrying my gear, with my hands free to navigate the terrain. I saw photos of stunning vistas and smiling trekkers and guides.

But I soon realized that it was in the spaces of that itinerary that my expectations were not just exceeded, but blown away. For example, the itinerary stated for the end of each day:
“Camp.” But on our advent into our new camp, here’s what actually happened:

Firstly, a chorus of porters, or “G-fighters” as they are called, greeted us singing and dancing in a call and response style: “Jambo Jambo. Kilimanjaro, Hakuna Matata.” I felt I was in “The Lion King!” Instantly, our weary legs, depleted lungs (each day took us higher and higher) yielded to huge smiles as we danced and sang along, energized to trek another day.

Then Sadam, my personal tent-erector, would take my bags and lead me to my tent. “Welcome to your home for tonight” he would say with a bright smile as he pulled back the flap to reveal my bed, bag and sleeping bag neatly arrayed. He did this every single evening, bar none. And I really did feel that I was home.

Bestie the butler soon arrived “Marguerite! Water for washing!” he declared, smile as warm as the bowl of water he placed at my tent. By the way, this was the same Bestie who by the morning of Day 3 had figured out that Marguerite likes her early morning coffee. Knock knock on my tent “Marguerite! Coffee is ready!”

The better the organization delivers on this, the greater the satisfaction, as customers receive a consistent level of service. But to exceed the expectations you create, you have to go further and delve into the spaces between the steps – that space where all you say is “CAMP”, but where the magic actually happens

There are 5 critical aspects of this:

1. START WITH CORE VALUES: Articulate your Core Values. G-Adventures is clear and intentional about its five Core Values:
   1. We LOVE changing people’s lives – I heard Israel say this our briefings, casually but with passion;
   2. LEAD with service;
   3. EMBRACE the bizarre;
   4. DO the right thing;
   5. CREATE happiness and community.
2. GET GRANULAR WITH PROCESS DESIGN: when you design your processes, look for the spaces in the experience where you typically think nothing happens, but which, when filled from the core, or couer, become amazing.
3. RELENTLESSLY QUESTION: over and over, ask yourself and your team: “What can we do to make this a blow-away experience?”
4. EMPOWER THE TEAM – encourage and allow your team members to fill the spaces. Each will bring their own specialness – honour that.
5. OBSERVE AND ADJUST – Pay close attention in the moment to your customers to see how they are reacting in the spaces, and then adjust.

Does this take work? Of course it does. But the payoff is more than worth it. This is how you consistently create experiences that have your customers so delighted that they don’t even know or cannot remember what they expected – they just know that they got way, way more.

TAKE ONE ACTION

Are you clear on your Core Values? Are they just words on a wall? Spend some time with your team members to define them and get clear on how to use them. Find ways to get Core Values into people’s hearts. And of course, you first start by embracing and living them from your own heart.

PS: Contact me if you need help – our Core Values workshop will get your team clear and aligned around the values, and start the shift.

INTERESTING LINKS

My blog on “Looptail” by Bruce Poon Tip, founder of G-Adventures. “There’s a compassionate side of business … there is a way to create happiness and community in everything you do” he writes. I certainly experienced this on my trek
– click to view article

Speaking of “blown-away service” – remember Disney? Here are their 7 Service Guidelines
– click to view article

“Service is about a million little things” said my HBS Service Management Professor David Maister at the start of the course over 30 years ago. I have never forgotten these words
– click to view article