Studies dating back to 1994 shows that companies that create customer delight enjoy disproportionately greater benefits and customer loyalty. Also often enjoy greater proportion of their customers acting as apostles of goodwill of your business. That is, free positive word-of-mouth.

This is the basic impulse behind Facebook with its enormous user base and growing. In the pre-Facebook world, if you would delight a customer who can tell your story to 10 personal acquaintances. That's fine but now convey their experiences (positive or negative) to the list of his friends, which contains an average of 125 people. You can then resubmit each of the friends of the people and the message goes directly interpolated to a possible ± 15,000. Oh, and by the way - it's free. When was the last time directly contacted many people with a simple action on the service first

So what is a delight and there is a formula you can teach your employees to use it. Well, I can give you an idea of ??pleasure, but, unfortunately, unless you have the right people, it will not work for you. Can you train your people - Yes, but unless they start with the right attitude, you will be wasting your time, money and possibly losing customers. Unless the process seems perfect and unscripted, the impact will be less, and deny its effectiveness.

Some concepts to delight your customers

Delight your customers improve customer retention, loyalty, and ultimately profitability. Perhaps surprisingly, may also be able to save on their advertising.

You must maintain a certain level of satisfaction with their products or services, which sets the standard for employees goes beyond this base and then delight the customer.

Your employees must be trained to react quickly and decisively to correct any false step. This also requires giving employees the power to correct the problems without consulting their supervisors.

Your competitors will determine the level of their customers' satisfaction, and what they love. The restaurant on the block always offer free desert, so if you do not have the same potential for pleasure. On the contrary, constantly giving this, just raising the level of customer satisfaction and eliminate any possibility of pleasure possible. If you do the same will become expected, so the negative feelings that arise when it is given.

You must approach your customers as a long term investment. Determine how much it costs to get a new customer - then you can see the savings retain only you have. Calculate your profit potential for life. A $ 5.00 a month for checks can be transformed into a credit card, then a mortgage to the bank that can delight a customer.

Finally, you must have a measurement system to determine what additional benefits your joy system creates for your business. The concept has been demonstrated by the stars of customer service, such as Ritz-Carlton, Mercedes-Benz, Southwest Airlines, Bank of Commerce, and Neiman Marcus.

The foundations of an integrated customer service to delight customers

Build a database that can give real time information on each of its customers. Your employees should have easy access to the details of this or memorize important, depending on the size of its customer base. You need to know your best customers and their contribution to profits.

You must be specific and do you have a personal impact with the customer - ie not just give them dessert - use your database to have a cake decorated trained staff when a customer visits him on his birthday or other occasion special. Banks  Counter can send birthday cards and automatically forwards the relevant information life-changing events - retirement, marriage, or children graduating from college, etc.

You must be happy and never bored. A director may waive all bank charges a customer a month for no reason other than a thank you. Restaurant managers can draft the entire table of a good customer in the celebration of special events alleged. Champagne is offered to a couple celebrating an anniversary or a contract. Provided you are not for everyone - as Friday blows and sing for a birthday of someone who asks - and relates directly to his client - the secretary of your best customer is at your place of Secretary's Day - to it can not do enough.

That is disproportionate to the case. Visit your client with a lunch on the anniversary of its opening line of credit, or giving hotel guests the pillow favorite type and the room to 72 degrees and seems to like.

Of course, it must be unexpected and somewhat arbitrary. Once you are a guest of the pillow and set your room you have raised the bar in their expectations. These things should be done at each visit. Several other things - give you breakfast in your room once, and tickets to a show to another. The more unexpected the better - if you know someone likes  taste. It loses its effort, money and time if given football tickets hockey fan.

Basically, the more special and unique, to make his effort more impact than will ever make. This impact will result in immediate word of mouth advertising both in person and on social networking sites. It's human nature to customers around the world know how special you think they are. They are boasting as he did for them, now they are signing their praises and by default, so they feel great.

Here are some examples from my personal experience to illustrate delight the customer experience

While in the restaurant business  club, you are given many opportunities to delight your guests. Once there was a couple standing in the lobby of maitre d 'and the lady was crying. Apparently, they had traveled only 20 miles away to join us for their anniversary. The lady was sure he had made of iron connected (this was before the versions of self-), and she has to go home to relax. Instead of spoiling its conclusion, I have the keys and went home and unplugged the iron was no longer done. He also gave them a bottle of champagne to complement the best of our celebration. Five years later, the husband became the CEO of a brokerage firm and gave all parties was held at the restaurant. A short drive and a couple of hundred dollars paid a hundred times. Also always celebrates his birthday at the restaurant of the years I have maintained a principle in place.

Another experience at another club involved one of my employees fantastic - Tascha. She overheard two ladies talking, after saving his money for several years to make this trip in Germany, they were having problems because they were not aware of the high costs in New York. (Tascha spoke German, another way to delight customers - have multi-language speakers in the whole enterprise) Tascha asked if I could something to help. I said I knew I should not ask, do whatever they deem appropriate. In the place Tascha created a contest, took the microphone and announced DJ ladies were awarded the grand prize and won a night at our place for free. The crowd went crazy, especially because no one knew of our competition. Tascha offered to pay the same bill, but he said it was not necessary. The result - a dollar check average couple hundred, which actually only cost us 25% of that, it became the talk of the town. One woman worked at a travel agency in Frankfurt (again when the companies were viable) and sent to everyone who visits New York for our club. The publicity was so overwhelming, and free, who instituted the contest as a weekly event. On different nights each week, one employee was accused of choosing one of its clients to win the night off. Increased revenues 15% club like everyone else would come with the hope that was the night for the freebie, and to be chosen. Tascha was given an extra portion of share in the profits this quarter, another need for a successful customer service, but leave that for another article. This had all the elements of a perfect pleasure - arbitrary, unexpected, not proportionate to the situation directly related to customer experience, and fun.

To show that conventional business situations can also be adapted to delight the customer service, which may relate to an experience I had when I owned a graphic  advertising agency. We were in a major car account, and the decision maker was a businessman definite old school, and had just arrived from Germany. After the first meeting, he called and said he would meet me personally and that if elected, we would work together almost daily. We agreed to meet for lunch during the week. I did some research and learned that he was from Munich, Germany, and had lived in the area throughout his life. BMW began working for leaving school and had moved through the ranks since then, and this was his first destination outside Germany. I made reservations in an authentic Bavarian restaurant that I knew and found that it takes all the beers in the Munich area. After calling and suggesting to make it a late lunch, so do not have to return quickly I realized I was all set. One last thing I thought. I borrowed an old friend 1938 BMW 327 convertible antiques. When I took from the office, all I could see was to inspect the car. I went in and took my potential customer and handed out the keys. As we left the applause drowned out the sweet sound of the exhaust pipe and my (now) customer had a huge grin. The restaurant was just icing on the cake. The account of our era and in the coming years we did many millions of dollars in business. One warning, be careful how you do this kind of pleasure, if not handled properly, it may seem that the bribe. With this, however I went to a potential client of my enthusiasm for the BMW brand (which is actually owned a BMW, though not an antique), and also to hear what was important to him personally.

There are countless examples that show that the planning of their customer service to delight customers pay, both financially and in satisfaction. Make it fun, make it personal, and do so with the best intentions, never fail.