It’s all about Standards and Extras!

Standards are what we know we should get and what we expect.

Extras are things that surprise us; sometimes I refer to it as ‘unexpected service’.

So how does it work, well it either falls into a Positive, Neutral or Negative experience. And what can affect the perception of the experience is the way it’s been communicated to them?

Let’s take the first time you take your car in for a service. As it’s the ‘first time’, the car dealer decides to valet your car for you. You are really impressed, (positive) however the next time you take the car in, it doesn’t get a valet (negative). Your expectation was that it was to be cleaned, simply because it wasn’t communicated to you the first time that the valet was a bonus or an unexpected service.

To make sure you get value from your ‘unexpected service’ your clients need to clearly know what the standard service is first.

An Extra well communicated = Positive.

A Standard = Neutral

An Extra not performed = Neutral

A standard not performed = Negative

And in the case of the title of this article, if everyone puts a chocolate on your pillow, quite simply today, it’s not enough!

And worse still, what happens if the chocolate isn’t there?