If you call someone, you expect them to pick up the phone. If they don’t, you expect them to call back. If you ask a question, you expect the individual to provide the correct answer. When you place an order, you expect that order to be filled. When these things happen, however, it’s not as if you believe you have had a great service experience. Furthermore, you’re not likely to recommend that service provider to someone else just because the service provider picked up the phone, were professional or called you back. They are simply meeting baseline expectations.
On the other hand, if your expectations are not met, you will definitely form a negative perception of the individual and their firm. So when it comes to baseline expectations, there is no upside, but lots of downside!
Therefore, in order to provide a truly differentiated level of service, so you not only keep your clients, but your clients also rave about your service delivery to their friends and neighbors, you need to ensure the basics are in place, and then look for opportunities to take it one step further and ‘wow’ your clients.
