We just got back from two nights away up the coast.
Right before I booked the Airbnb I had found, I scanned through some reviews.
Here’s one from Maggie back in March:
“The experience went above and beyond any other Airbnb stay we’ve had before. The personal touches including home-baked bread and music playing upon our arrival made it memorable and second to none! “
Another review also hailed the homemade bread as a success.
I went through with the booking, and two days later we rock up to the little house.
When we walk through, sure enough, gentle music is playing, and a home made loaf of bread is sitting there. Still in a bread-warmer. A little slip of paper next to it listing all the (healthy) ingredients. Nice touch.
It smells so good we didn’t even finish unpacking before we were sitting outside with some cheese on bread (I had cheese and honey together).
Some of the businesses I work with excel at “surprise and delight” – I’m huge on this. Little things along the customers journey that surprise them and, you guessed it, delight them.
Like the perfect crèma on an espresso, or when you pull in to fill up on diesel and there’s the “high flow” option.
Small hinges opening up big doors of satisfaction.
But here’s the thing – I already knew about the bread! In fact, I expected it!
Surely this takes away from the effect, because it’s factored in?
Not at all – delighted!
“Surprise and delight” is great, and, delight without the surprise is still a win!
We love a great movie even if someone tells us the ending. It’s the experience of the story that evokes the emotion, and we can even know how it’s going to wind up – but still get the same feeling!
(Probably why I can watch short clips of Kramer from Seinfeld walk through the door and still be entertained)
So, what does this mean? It means when you’re on the other side, you get to test!
You can literally “try out” different things with the people you work with, your colleagues, or in your relationships, to see how it goes! And if it works, most likely you can do something similar for others – even if they find out about it beforehand.
One of the big things that holds people back from the “extra effort” surprise and delight work with their customers or even relationships is the energy required – it takes energy to innovate, or, to come up with new ideas.
Yes, you need to generate more energy, but the ideas don’t always have to be new.
They can be tested, one by one, and then if they take off, repeated (for a while at least – if you’re getting repeat customers – not really the case with most Airbnb’s, then you’ll have to rotate the “delight”)
A big emphasis on surprise and delight is a key part of client attraction, retention, and even sales and marketing.
If you want to cook a different kind of meal every time before the guests arrive (actually that could be huge) then by all means, go ahead. But if you can’t go that far, then putting the 9 ingredients into a bread-cooking-machine at the right time that morning can still be incredibly powerful, and seperate you from the pack.
We want to feel good. We’ll gladly accept your delight, even if it’s factored in, even without the surprise.
The big question then is if you want those around you (clients, relationships, colleagues) to feel good or not? What could this mean for you, and everyone involved?
