Always Blow Expectations Out of the Water
Yesterday my roommate ran outside to our veranda to share some of his great news with me. He was recently hired as an accountant at a firm that he really wanted to work at. He was ecstatic that he got the job, but that wasn’t what he ran out to tell me (I already knew he got the job). He was happy that they emailed him to say that they decided to give him an additional $5,000 on top of the agreed upon pay.
My roommate what expecting to get paid X amount of dollars per year and now, all of a sudden, he gets this email stating that he’s going to get paid an extra 5K. He was so happy and it made me think about expectations and how we entrepreneurs should always try to surpass the expectations of our subscribers, clients, and, ah, everyone!
It’s such a simple concept, but it’s brilliant. Tell / give someone something that makes them happy, then follow-through with something even bigger, greater, and more exciting.
We should seek to do this with everyone and everything. If you’re a web designer and your client signed the contract to have their site done on the 15th, get that baby done by the 10th! If you just launched a new service and people think that they are going to get 3 months for free, give ‘em 4! If you promised your girlfriend roses, give her diamonds (well… ).
When you continue to surpass peoples’ expectations, you begin to separate yourself from the rest. Your business is looked highly upon and people know that they are always going to get more than you are actually offering.
Forget business, as a person… as someone who always comes through and surpasses expectations is someone who gets really far in life. Someone who is constantly making people happy, adding extra value to peoples’ lives, and someone who is, downright, an awesome person who is sought out constantly.
When you become such a person, people are naturally going to be attracted to your business. They know that if you go above and beyond with everything else in your life, well, then, of course your business is going to work in the same way.
Be a rockstar entrepreneur and always seek to provide more than what you’re offering.
5 Comments
lawrence
June 13th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
general rule of thumb, for not only in business - but everything: under promise, and over deliver…Never(ever) over promise, then under deliver - you do that, it’s over.
an accountant, man - ughhh…that’s one of the most anti-entrepreneur jobs one can get
Dave from Manchester
June 14th, 2007 at 9:11 am
Excellent post and one I agree with entirely. After I read it I started to think about different aspects of my life and whether I’m putting this into practice at the moment.
Sharat Thakur
June 14th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Awesome post! This thought applies not only to Entrepreneurship, but to every aspect of our life…… Cheersto you Dave for this wonderful post.
David Askaripour
June 17th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Thanks dudes, greatly appreciate your comments! Yes this principle applies to ALL things in life and it’s something great to try and implement everyday with everything
Katie Konrath
June 18th, 2007 at 7:59 am
It’s amazing how much people are delighted when their expectations are exceeded. It’s one of the easiest ways to thrill customers and get their loyalty.
On the other hand, over-promising and under-delivering…
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