Many hard working business owners get very few referrals from their clients or customers. Conversely, other business owners have clients who are a regular source of high quality referrals.
Here’s one reason why this happens. By understanding it, you can significantly increase the number of client referrals you receive.
Pretty-much every business owner works hard for their clients. They make sure their clients get the quality of service they expect. And they consistently strive to ensure their clients get value for money. Of course, our clients expect us to work hard for them. They expect a great quality service. They expect value for money.
In other words, if that’s where we set the bar on the service we provide, we’re merely meeting expectations.
Simply meeting expectations isn’t enough, if we want our clients to tell their friends about us.
Exceeding expectations
The service providers who attract the most referrals have a different approach. They deliberately look for opportunities to exceed expectations. To go the extra mile.
Here’s a very simple example.
- The typical service provider tells their client that a project will be completed by the middle of the week. A vague deadline isn’t that useful to a client, but it gives the provider some wriggle room if they’re running late.
- A provider who exceeds expectations tells the client the project will be ready by 4pm Wednesday. They know that clients love the clarity of deadlines. They also know that by setting and achieving deadlines, their clients learn to rely on them. To trust them. To value them.
As you can see from the above example, it doesn’t take much more effort to exceed expectations than it does to meet expectations. However, the results are disproportionately huge. So, why not look for opportunities today, to exceed the expectations of at least one of your clients or customers? They’ll appreciate the difference. And so will you, my friend.
This will help get you moving in the right direction – There are no traffic jams on the Extra Mile.