Your customer secretly wants more than what they’re paying you for.
Wait, what?
Your customer has a hundred options - other than you - to get a job done. What a customer is really craving is a memorable experience.
I can call a dozen different people to paint my house, fix the car, build me a website, etc., etc., what makes a difference is the experience. And one aspect of the customer experience is how it ends. We all have an experience at the conclusion of working with someone, so why not take control of that experience and blow it out of the water?
Nobel Prize Winner, Daniel Kanheman, is a professor of psychology specializing in behavioral studies. He has identified the "Peak-End Rule” and that’s what we’ll be mapping out today.
Kanheman identified that every consumer goes through a peak, and an end of an experience, and that’s what they truly remember from an interaction. Just like a decadent dessert at the end of a fabulous meal, or the massage at the end of your pedicure - the peak of the experience should be at the conclusion of service. Why? Because that’s what will make your customers not only remember you, but return to you and recommend you.
Your client is expecting your service to be what they paid for. This, in itself, isn’t what will wow them. What will make you memorable is a peak end experience. That special thing you do to make sure your clients don’t forget you, keep doing business with you and tell others about you.
Again, your client expects to get what they are paying for. So they won’t be wowed by that (bummer, I know.) They will, however, remember their end experience and that’s where you can make the biggest impression.
If you are a private chef and you cater a dinner party in someone’s home, they expect that the food is delicious and well presented, and I’m sure your dessert will be amazing. But if you make sure their kitchen is spotless before you leave and box up the food as leftovers for them with a thank you card, they’ve just had a lovely end experience and will always think of you the next time they need a chef.
If you are an event planner and are working with a corporate meeting planner to put on their company's annual conference in another city, they will expect the event to be flawless. That’s what they are paying you for. But when your contact at that big corporation is finished with the conference, you know he/she is going to be exhausted. Why not make sure you have some champagne, flowers and indulgent chocolates sent to their room with a thank you card? Telling he/she how great of a job they did and now it’s time to treat themselves. They will always think of you the next time they put on an event.
If you are a dog groomer, your customer expects their pup to smell good, free of tangles, trim nails and clean ears when finished. But what if you offered to drive their dog back to their home and leave them with a sweet little report card of how their dog did with a few treats?
These little experiences leave a lasting impression, and definitely don’t have to be expensive. They just need to be thoughtful. Creating an end experience can be one of the most enjoyable parts of working with your clients. The very last touch they have with your service/product should be WOW.
This is when you can get really creative and have a lot of fun!
Remember, you are never “doing a job” for your client - you are "creating an experience" for them.
