This may seem somewhat simplistic, but I think we need to clearly define what we mean by customer satisfaction.

Customer satisfaction is meeting..or exceeding the expectations of the customer.

We often think of customer satisfaction as a rather linear process.the more effort we put into it the more satisfied a customer is. That just isnt so.

Lets break customer expectations up into two categories:

• Expected--Things the customer expects
• Unexpected--Things the customer doesnt even know exist, but would be excited to find them unexpectedly delivered.

If a customer expects something, he is very unhappy when he doesnt get it, and becomes comfortable or just satisfied when he finally gets it. In other words, in this case satisfied is sort of the customer is OK with it. That is almost a non event.

The only way from here is down if you dont deliver it, and getting better and better, until you fully meet the customers expectations.which is middle of the road, average.

People expect their expectations to be delivered, therefore you are average, you are OK, just so-so, when you achieve their expectations.

Now lets look at the unexpected. When a customer doesnt get something hes not expecting, since he doesnt know its not supposed to be there hes still OK with it. However, once you start delivering something totally unexpected youll start delighting the customer and thats when you can outshine your competitors, when youll get lots of customers talking about you in a good way and giving referrals.

To summarize:

1)Expected--You always have to deliver the expected, all of the way. That makes you acceptable and OK.

2) Unexpected--But when you can find something the customer would value and appreciate, but he isnt expecting it, now youll have a delighted customer. So try to find that and deliver the unexpected all of the time.

What happens when you deliver the unexpected. For a while youll be on the top of his list. As soon as your competitors notice and they start doing itguess what. Itll become expected.

Keep looking for the unexpected and being ahead of the crowd and your competition.