E-Marketing Professionals

9. Win Through Exceeding Customer Expectations
One of the most popular marketing cliches today is that a winning company is one that consistently exceeds customer expectations. Meeting customer expectations will only satisfy customers; exceeding their expectations will delight them. Customers who are delighted with a sup¬plier have a much higher probability of remaining a customer.

The problem is that when a customer's expectations are exceeded, he has higher expectations next time. The task of exceeding the higher expectations gets more difficult and more costly. Ultimately, the company must settle for just meeting the latest expectations.

Put another way, many of today's customers want the highest quality, added services, great convenience, customization, return privileges, guarantees—all at the lowest price. Clearly each company has to decide which of these many customer wants it can meet profitably.