I remember taking a sales course and the teacher asked each attendee, What do you do to make an unhappy customer, happy!  Almost everyone in the room said, I’d give them a discount or I wouldn’t charge them at all.  But, of course, I was different. I said what I always did that worked very well for me.  I said, “I would apologize.” And then I would do something novel. I would ask them, “How can I make this up to you?”  Nine out of ten times their answer was, “Don’t let it happen again.”  That’s all they wanted!  Don’t let it happen again.  Then I would apologize again and then thank them for their business.  Depending on the circumstances, I would normally give them a discount as well, that they didn’t expect. So, they got icing on the cake!

Asking them what they expect always gave me the opportunity to exceed their expectations.  And so I did, always knowing what their expectations actually were.  It’s that simple!

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