Three Keys to Exceeding the Expectations Each and Every Time

If you are like me, tired of getting lackluster, mediocre service from people who just don't seem to care, it drives you crazy. And more and more, it seems like that is the rule and not the exception. Yet, when I work with business owners, they swear that they have the best service ever. Survey after survey says that only 17% of customers rated their— the service that they received as excellent. What about employee satisfaction? Well, a recent Gallup poll showed only 15% of the workforce is truly engaged. And if you're a member of an association, you doubtlessly have seen the same kind of statistics just within your club, your branch, Your organization. Member engagement is down. It's getting harder and harder to attract members and even harder to keep them for more than a couple of seasons. So, what is the challenge? Well, they need the 3 keys to exceed expectation. And that's coming up next on Marc Haine Live. Welcome to Marc Haine Live. This is where business owners and entrepreneurs pick up core skill sets to help them work on their business, not just in their business. I am your host, Service Expert and Master of Experiences Marc Haine. And today, I'd love to uncover the 3 keys organizations must have to make sure that they blow the socks off their customers, their employees, and their association members. And we'll get to that in just A moment. In the meantime, I hope that you have subscribed to this podcast. I am extremely proud that I just hit 4,000 views on my YouTube channel. It's small by YouTube world. It's still small. But after 65 episodes, I'm proud that each week, people like you are finding that this podcast is valuable to them. And they are gaining amazing value with each episode. So, it's telling me I'm on the right track. So, have you ever gone someplace, a store or a restaurant, and instantly felt like the place was a little bit sketchy? You know, there are 3 subtle signs that when you walk into a business, it's sketchy.

Sketchy.

First of all, the girl behind the counter when you walk in the door, she looks up from her cell phone for a split second And then looks back down and continues doing what she was doing on her cell phone. The place looks like nobody has cared for it in ages. In fact, it could be so dirty that the cockroaches have set up camp in the break room on the table. And they're all sitting there playing poker and smoking cigarettes. It's even so bad that one of them looks up to you and goes, hey, meester.

Close the door!

So that brings us to our Question of the Day. So, what is your horrendous customer service story? Why don't you go ahead and share this episode along with your horror story? And why don't you go ahead and even hashtag it Sucky customer service. And please make sure that you tag me in on the post. I'd love to read your stories because I know they exist out there. They're there. I know they exist. And I know each one of us have had really horrendous service and experiences from the different places that we deal with. If you read my book, I tell the story of a trip that I made to a Dornier shop in Edmonton. The sign on the window boasted that they served the best donair in Edmonton. And I thought, good for them. That's quite an accomplishment. Trading for a package of sunshine and ravioli. Macaroni. If you want the thing you love. You did it! Congratulations! World's best cup of coffee. Great job, everybody! It's great to meet you.

Hi.

Now, come over here, boy.

Sam.

I walked into this Donair shop and the place had outdated decor. It didn't look very clean. I mean, you walked in and there were seats everywhere. Along the back window as you walked in the restaurant was a few booths. One of the booths was obviously the office. It had a calculator, all sorts of paperwork and that sort of stuff lying around it. The one right behind it obviously was a staff break room. There was a cup there with a straw with lipstick on it, the pack of cigarettes, somebody's sweater. That was obviously to me, I would think that was probably the break room. The vast space was covered with tables and chairs that had been bought at some auction. And as you walked in, right in front of you, there was There was this long line. It was where the cooks did all their work. And it was set up kind of like a fast food restaurant in a food court. There was a big sign over the cash register that just said, Order here. The menu was massive. It was kind of a faded kind of grayish white. There were dust bunnies on top of the menu boards. Oh my God! And as I walked in, I could hear this hum. And I noticed off to the side, just next to where the counter started, was this huge double-door Coke cooler. And it was stocked in with 2-liter bottles, cans of pop, and that sort of thing. And then, right next to it was kind of this Jenga setup of different cases of pop. And it looked like, I bet you any money at some point, somebody's going to pull instead of moving cases. They're going to pull from the middle of the case to put it into the fridge. And the whole thing's going to knock over like Jenga. And I wonder if anybody jumps up and down and goes, Jenga! When it happens. Not quite sure. The ceiling was a white bristleboard kind of ceiling. But it was no longer white. It was gray. And around all the vents on the ceiling were like, it was all full of dust, like black dust. The ventilation hood that they use to bring it all in. I mean, there's a lot of Grease and that sort of thing from the deep fryers and that sort of. And it kind of made its way onto the ceiling. Now, I know what you're thinking because I had the same thought. Marc, my friend, don't make eye contact. Slowly turn and walk out. I had the same thought. But I also had a craving. It was 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I hadn't eaten lunch and I was craving to have a donair. So, here's the thing. In one of my presentations I call Engagealytics, I talk about how tenuous your active participants and ambassadors are. It's also on page 18 of my book if you wanted to take those labels and kind of look them up what they represent. But the Engagealytics basically talks about how people are on a path within your brand. And it could be a customer. It could be staff. It could be association members. But they all process their various experiences. And as they go through their trip, that defines whether or not you get their sincere loyalty. But have you ever stopped to ask yourself why you feel what you feel when you make buying decisions? I mean, through each step of any buying journey, we all have what I like to call an experience expectation. Anytime you do anything, go anywhere, or deal with people, You have a preconceived idea of how the experience will go, how it will be like. Even right here, right now, you have an expectation that this broadcast is going to be a valuable use of your time. I have the expectation that you are here with an open mind, willing to participate in today's exploration and that you'll laugh at my jokes. So, try not to disappoint. Every day, with every experience, we have an expectation as to the outcome. We even have an expectation of how you will get to that outcome. Unless of course, this is your first time. I mean, do you remember your first time? It could have been mid-afternoon, right after school, or even more intimidating, in the darkness of night. You felt uncertain and you had So many questions. I mean, you were new at this and you didn't even know where to put your hands, where to look. You went slowly just to make sure you were doing it right. You didn't want the person you were with to think that you were inept. It made you feel quite vulnerable. Why is this so scary? You thought. But if you were lucky, you were with somebody with much more experience than you have. Someone who could guide you and reassure you that everything was going to be okay and that you could do this. Who knew that learning how to drive would be so complicated? But you learned. And as you developed your confidence, you created expectations, even new expectations. Now, whenever you get behind the wheel, you expect that your car will start, that you will get to your destination safely, and that everything will work the way it should. And from now on, whenever you get behind the wheel, you'll also remember what you were really thinking when you watched today's episode.

Oh, behave!

Now, I have to tell you, the donair I had was great. The lady knew how to cut the meat. She dressed it the way I liked it. She had a real skill in packaging up the pita. So, what was missing? Well, I had a different experience expectation. I would even say I had a bigger experience expectation. There was an incongruency between how the place looked, the service I received, and the quality of the product. The operation was missing 3 keys to experience, to exceeding the experience expectation. We'll dig Into what those are right after this.

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Welcome back! We are digging into the 3 keys your organization needs to exceed experience expectations. We want to do that so that you can connect, attract, engage, and retain those you need to influence your success. But for any organization, these people, the people who you need to guarantee your success, We refer to them as your stakeholders. And for any organization, these people are what defines your business. But wait, you see the word stakeholders but not a lot of people know what that means. So, what the heck are stakeholders? Well, stakeholders is anyone who has a connection to your organization. By its simplest definition, it is your customers, your employees, and if you're an association, your members. But stakeholders can also be your board, your investors, your creditors, suppliers, your landlord. The list is really long. But in each relationship, in each transaction, we have an expectation as to how the transaction will proceed with them. If the transaction doesn't meet our expectations, we get disappointed. If the transaction meets our expectation, we're happy. And in my book, I talk about my expectation of just going into a convenience store, a gas station, and buying some gum. And there are different ways that they can disappoint me. They can make me happy. Or if the transaction exceeds expectations, we are blown away and we become memorable. In fact, I talk about in my book, I talk about when do we make the The first impression. It says, you never get a second chance to make a first good impression. But I challenge that thought because I wonder when the impression is made. If you just deliver on the expectation, for instance, if I go into the convenience store, just buy my gum and walk out with the gum, I don't have a feeling one way or the other. It wasn't a bad experience but it wasn't a great experience. I did what I wanted to do.

Right.

I had an expectation. They delivered on that expectation. I walked out. They could disappoint, in which case then I would think to myself, oh, I will never go back there again. Or if they did something really spectacular, it's like, wow, that is the best convenience store I've ever been to. But it all comes down to 3 keys. Now, I have to warn you that you cannot build on the 3 keys. without having trust. To ever exceed expectations, we have to build and deliver on the trust. Very first thing before we can ever deliver or build on the 3 keys. Trust is the core, the fundamental aspect of every transaction that we have. If you're not trustworthy, people won't want to do business with you. And this is where, as we go through the 3 keys, think about where you could destroy trust. And I really do believe Stephen Covey was right in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This idea of using trust as a bank account where you'll go into a place. For instance, like I'm sure you've gone into a restaurant and the food was really amazing. You go, wow, that was really great! They built trust. You went another time. It was really good. They maintained trust and maybe even built a little bit more. Then, you went back and the food was okay. It's like, Well, you know, we had 2 really great experiences there. So yeah, you know what? Maybe we'll go back. But the trust went down a notch. And you go back again and the food wasn't as good as it was the first 2 or 3 times you were there. And you think, I wonder if the management has changed. I wonder if they changed cooks. And the trust goes down. At some point, that trust hits zero or becomes overdrawn. And you never go back. You think, you know what? I used to go to this restaurant. It used to be great. But you know what? Something changed. I've never gone back. And what's funny about that is people have that judgment years after those experiences. I will talk with somebody and I go, well, why haven't you ever been back? Well, because the last time I was there, it was terrible. And it was just awful. And I said, but how long ago was that? 3 years. And it's like they built the trust over a couple of months. But then, they lost that trust to the point where they lost that customer over the last 3 years. The customer's never been back for 3 whole years. So, these 3 keys are absolutely integral into how you build your business, how you support your association, even how you keep your and engage your employees. It first starts off with the very first aspect, which is expectation. These are the other people's expectations. Everybody you deal with are going to have expectations. If you're a store, people have an expectation of what they're going to get from you. At the very core of basic needs are going to be safety, respect, understanding, and acceptance. Build up on that. And they're also looking for service. They're looking for quality. They have all different expectations. And your business, if you run your business well, you'll have an idea of what that is. You'll have a whole list of your demographics and the expectations that they all have if you've done that analysis. In which case then, you're on the right track because the next phase of that once you have You understand their expectations is you have your role to play. And that is in the promise that you make to them. So, they have an expectation. You have— and on your side of the fence, you have your promise. The promise that you make to them, again, it varies based on the product and service you have. But at the very basic, basic, basic is Efficiency, delivery of the product, making when it's on time. You're going to deliver the product on time for the price that you say it is. And you're going to deliver it with a certain attitude. How many businesses out there say, we have the best customer service? Well, customer service is all about attitude. You also have product. You also have service. And so on. So, the promise you make and the types of promises you make will help differentiate you at the core of your business. Whether you're a convenience store, you make certain promises that are better than the other people who make promises. And if you do this well, if you are able to fill the other people's expectations with your promise, well then, right smack in the middle, you have that you meet the expectation. No different than I had the expectation. I go into the convenience store to buy a pack of gum. I go in. I find my gum. I pay for it. I walk out. They've met my basic expectations, my basic need. They've met the expectations. This is important because this is where a lot of businesses will now hang their hats. Hey, you know what? We have— we know our customers' expectations. We have our promise. We are able to bring this all together. We meet expectations. Yay for us! We are a great business. But to really catapult the satisfaction level and exceed the stakeholders' experience expectations, we need the very last key. And that's coming up right after this.

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I have to ask you, what makes A good meal a great meal? What makes one doctor better than another doctor? What makes a good real estate agent a great real estate agent? The magic is all in the very last key. This is the differentiator. This is where our true values come to the surface. The one key is caring. That's what it is. The difference between a chef doing a really good meal and just slapping something together is caring. And in fact, I tell people a lot of times, I said, you know what? If they would just care just a little bit. Just a little bit. If the server who served you that meal Cared a little bit to make sure that you were having a great time. If the manager came by and he's not thinking about his profit and loss statements, he's not thinking about the staff that didn't show up, he's not thinking about all the stuff that he thinks about. And he turns around and he says, how are you doing today? And he stops. That makes all the difference in the world. And so, when it comes to caring, there's really These different aspects of caring. It's appreciation. Hey, thank you so much for coming today. When was the last time you thanked your employees for coming to work today or doing something, doing something specific? Hey John, I really appreciated how you handled that one customer today. Well done! We all want and need some semblance of appreciation. You know, I've said it before on this show. What gets recognized and rewarded gets repeated. It's the number one best way That you get the best out of the people that you deal with, your stakeholders. It's how you set expectations. Having gratitude and being able to know who these people are. Being generous with your time, with your resources, and making it to the benefit of the other person. Showing kindness. How hard is it to show kindness even in this in the scope of dealing with difficult people. You could look at somebody and say, the only reason why they're complaining is because they want something for free. Or you could turn around and say, this person has needs of their own. Maybe they're unrealized expectations that I didn't know about. It's where you take the time to make sure above all else The person that you're dealing with is great. I heard a quote ages ago and I'm sorry, I can't remember who quoted it. But probably could probably Google it. But the quote was, no one cares what you know until they know how much you care. And that's an important consideration to make. Now, on the graphic here, you'll see that between expectation and caring, there's a There's a space. Now, if somebody has an expectation and you care but you don't deliver on your promise, will they be happy?

No.

No, they won't. Likewise, if you make the promise and you care about delivering on your promise but you don't meet their expectation, they're not going to be happy. I mean, if you go into a vacuum store Because they promised that they sell laptops. And you walk in and you go, well, I heard you had laptops on sale. And they go, no, no, we're a vacuum store. It doesn't matter how much you promise to sell them the best vacuum. If they were there for a laptop, and I realize this is an exaggerated example. But if you were there to buy a laptop, no matter how much they try to sell you on a vacuum, you're not going to walk out of there happy. So, it's really important to understand that these 3 components have to coexist. When the 3 keys are in place, this is the only time that you would really exceed expectations. It's that magical center where you wow your customer, your employee, and your association members. If you are an association and you're struggling to keep your members, I challenge you to bring this to the attention of your members, to your board. To figure out what it is the expectations are. Because really, at the end of the day, the expectations is really what is missing. Or we're not delivering on our promise. So, if you promise professional development but then you never have educational sessions, or you don't have any way for them to be able to build up on their expectations, well then, they're not going to be very happy. If the minute somebody signs up to your board or to your association and you slam them with, oh, thank God you're a new member. Could you join our board because we need a new treasurer? It's going to be a challenge. If you don't understand the journey that your employees are on in your business, first of all, pick up my book. Read chapter 18. Because that creates such clarity in how you communicate, how you define their needs, and so on, and what their expectations are. And you can be looking at me and saying, but Marc, these are my employees. I pay them to do the work. But as an employer-employee relationship, you're in a synergistic relationship. You're in a relationship of give and take. And the give and take is not, I will take your work and I will give you money. That's no longer the case anymore. The '70s are dead. In order to make this happen, in order to fulfill these expectations, there are steps that you can take to make it happen. Now, I do want to warn you. As a leader, you cannot run up to all your employees and say, okay slackers, I need you to start caring more. Come on everybody! Care, care, care! Getting the key— 3 keys right in your organization starts at the very top. It requires you to look towards whether or not your leaders in your business are applying the 3 keys with the employees. You know, Gandhi once said, one man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole. Which means that you cannot expect your employees to deliver on experience expectations and fulfilling these 3 keys if you're not applying the 3 keys with your staff. If your managers aren't applying the 3 keys with your staff, you can't expect them to drive the 3 keys with your customers. If this is making sense to you and you don't know where to start, why don't you go ahead and drop me a line? As always, my offer stands. If you would like 30 minutes of my time to brainstorm your business with you and your team, please feel free to book 30 minutes with you and your team to brainstorm what you could do differently. Whether it is attracting and retaining and engaging your customers. Whether it is attracting, engaging, and retaining employees. Or if you're an association, a board that you realize that you have some challenges, that your membership is dwindling and you need help, then go ahead and book yourself on my online calendar. The link is down below in the show notes. It's the one that's marked meetme.so/MarcHaine. As always, I am at your service. And if you haven't done so yet, why don't you go ahead and hit the subscribe button? That'll give you first dibs whenever I bring you content that will help you work on your business, not just in your business. I hope this was of service to you. My name is Marc Haine. I hope you stay safe, stay healthy, and dare to be the exception.