Give The Client or Customer 10% More

Do you have a delighted customer or client?  I bet you are in demand. 

Harvey Gellman, my mentor and business partner, had a saying "Give the client ten percent more than they expect."  

Don't just meet their expectations but exceed them.

That is really a very stretching goal as a consultant but great to keep in mind.  

One thing a delighted client will do is ask for more help.  You become a star and the go to person for lots of things outside you specialty.  Being in demand from clients is gold to the consultant.  

This came to mind when a friend wrote on Facebook how thrilled he was to get excellent customer service from ETR407, a Toronto electronic toll road.   He was also surprised.   I said he should let them know and he said he would not want to get the agent in trouble.  How sad is that.

However I think many people's expectations are low and so when we exceed them we stand out in the crowd.

However I do not have any truck with talking about giving 110%,  That makes not sense, I am talking about expextations.

What can you do today to exceed someone's expectations?

Then share in a comment.


  1. Jim Hayward Reply

    I think if we strive to exceed expectation and really expect it from others, we will be overwhelmed many times.
    I know Grahamthat you overwhelm everyone with your commitment to excellence.
    Not many people have your gift of data modelling and good humour.
    You would be awesome at mind mapping as well. Do you use it to brainstorm?

  2. graham Reply

    some peolpe’s expectartions are pretty high..
    of course the opposite is also true… we all have such low expectations as a result of bing disappoints so often that when someone does a good job we are overwhelmed.
    be overwhelming!

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