When was the last time you received really great service?

It doesn’t have to be at a restaurant or at a store. It could be online, with a babysitter, concert, movie theater … anywhere you purchase products or services.

Why was the service so great?

Was it because they anticipated your needs? Was it because they smiled and had an easy flow of conversation? Was it because they respected your time and were prompt with everything throughout the appointment?

Now, when was the last time you had a bad service? The same thing applies from above. It doesn’t have to be at a restaurant. It can be anywhere.

Why was the service so bad?

Was your hotel room dirty? Did checkout take too long? Was the quality of the phone call bad? Did the expert not know as much as you thought they would?

Now, why were these experiences good or bad? Why did you leave feeling one way or another after the experience?

One word.

Expectations.

Regardless of the day or what you are doing, there are always underlying expectations. We expect things to go a certain way because that is the way they always go.

Your clients do the same thing. They have certain expectations when entering a working relationship with you, but like you, once they experience exceptional service, they want more. They want more information at their fingertips. They want faster answers. They want to have to do less prep work going into the season.

How do you accommodate these wants? How do you meet and grow with your client expectations? How do you exceed your client expectations?

The answer can be as simple as asking them in a survey. Asking them what they like most and least about doing business with you. Asking them what would make it easier for in the future. What they would like to see added as services or tools.

You can also anticipate their needs and wants and put yourself in their shoes. Asking yourself what you would want if you were a client of your business. What you value as a customer from your favorite stores. What you find easy to work with.

Either way you go about it, changing with their expectations and growing to meet them will not only keep them coming back, but it will be the vehicle for the best type of marketing out there … recommendations.

How you meet your client expectations varies from business to business, but most of the time it means that businesses have to embrace new technology that allows them to work smarter, not harder.

A.I. and the Internet of Things have changed the customer experience immensely over the last few years. Have you been an Amazon Prime member in years past? Are you an Amazon Prime NOW?

Amazon has changed the customer experience forever and has left other retail giants like Walmart and Target clambering to make up for lost time in the market. How did they change the customer experience so quickly?

Easy. They streamlined the customer process.

They perfected the search function. The product information. The ability to receive a shipment quickly. The ease of returns. The ease of purchase. The ability to bundle products together like suggested items based off of searches and behavior, movies, music, document storage, picture storage, books and gift cards to name a few to create a complete user experience. All of this is done, and driven, by the user thanks to the use of A.I. and IoT.

Almost everyone these days has had at least one experience with this form of technology, whether they know it or not, and that leaves them impressed with what they were able to obtain in a short period of time. Whether it’s information about a product, an answer on their account, an order update or an Amazon Prime NOW delivery in just a short hour or two, these are all options now thanks to the advances in technology.

This is how you meet your client expectations. This is how you work smarter, not harder. This is how you become future-ready. Embrace the changes that are happening within the industry and learn how to make them work for you.

It could be as simple as implementing a software solution that has a client portal. That way they can log in and see everything that pertains to their account. It could be installing a chat bot on your website or Facebook page. These allow customers to have access to information or ask questions when it is convenient for them. You could go as fancy as using smart retail systems like Target. Tracking the location of customers while in the store, offering information or tutorials within the app based on what products they are looking at within the isle, showing accurate stock and locations of items, showing related products or recipes that use the product or ingredients to complete the customer experience.

These are just a few examples of ways technology can improve your customer experience and meet their changing, and growing, expectations. There are a lot of other methods that businesses are choosing to implement. We would love to hear what you are doing to prepare your business for the future. Share what you have done below in the comments. We would love to check it out!