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did you do something today to delight someone?
That someone could be a prospect, client, new recruit or current employee.
Employees are our internal customers. They need to be delighted too.

So how do you delight prospects and clients?
Let's look at ways that companies have figured out to go beyond satisfaction.

Some hospitals realize that their market may see them as a commodity. So how do they differentiate? More importantly, how do they delight? To delight does differentiate. Some hospitals have turned to sleep number mattresses for all patient beds. Now that's delight.

Some hotel chains have figured out a new way to delight. They train behind the counter check-in personnel to come around the counter and act as a hotel guide walking the guest to the elevator and pointing out the sites along the way. Delight.

Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks knows a thing or two about customer delight. At the last game of the regular season he gave every fan in attendance a FREE American Airline ticket. Bobble heads are fun, but a free ticket on a major airline, Big delight-BIG.

Sometimes the road to delight meets an obstacle. The invoice said to call 24/7 to pay the bill. So one Sunday I decided to shorten my work week by one task on the dreaded to-do list. 24/7 was the offer and I was the taker. I dialed the 800 number with excitement and trepidation. The excitement lasted until I got the recording that said office hours were 9-5 on weekdays. Why the disconnect? Why did the invoice say in bold letters to pay 24/7?

Of course I called on Monday to say I was not delighted. It's always easier to point out shortcomings in others. Do you or your business have a disconnect? If you make customer delight your goal, then you need to as Nike says, just do it.

Purchasing 20,000 airline tickets may not be in your budget, and working 24/5 may not be in your schedule. But that doesn't change the fact that you need to create customer delight.

Learn more about this author, Leslie Ungar.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

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