Winning and keeping customers requires we provide value that propels the customer's life forward. That's good cause to elevate our thinking from providing mere customer service to the next higher level, customer satisfaction. At this level, the customer relationship focuses on the perspective of the customer, not the provider.

Here are the series of thoughts that lead to delighting the customer.

Focus on the customer

Stay Close to your Customers.
Salespeople too often lose touch. Stay close. Don't contact a customer only when you have something to sell. Visit in person or by phone at other times when your purpose is simply to reinforce the relationship.

Share a piece of pertinent information or just check to be sure all is going as planned. Practice the sales-stutter - one call to sell, then one to satisfy, then another to sell. A non-selling contact is important to the healthy of a delighted customer relationship.

The most important customer is the existing customer. We become so charged up opening new accounts we too often forget to serve delightfully those most important to us. It doesn't pay to build a business on the backs of your existing, loyal customers. Make your deals available to all customers - not just new ones.

Attitudes and actions

Pretend you're going to lose every customer. Imagine the positive energy put into customer delight when we assume we are at risk of losing every customer after every sale. That assumption will motivate us to delight our customers.

Promises are made to be kept.
Making promises is easy, keeping them isn't. The number of promises we make is less important that the number we keep. Relationships are built on expectations. It's far worse to make a promise and not keep it than not to have promised at all. Don't disappoint.

Don't advertise - Surprise.
You don't develop relationships with satisfied customers with fanfare and promotion, but with action. Advertising stimulates business by promising a lot, then often delivering less than promised. A delighted customer results when we determine what the customer needs, promise it, then deliver more than promised. We're besieged by advertising promises. When it comes to the delightfully satisfied customer, however, there is no room for advertising hype. What counts is delivery. Effective salespeople don't over promise when forming their delighted customer strategy. But they do over deliver.

Be Genuine.
The delightfully satisfied customer can only be served by someone genuinely wanting to help. Someone focused more on the needs of the customer than his own. Genuine, caring people are givers, and in giving they achieve - for themselves, their customers, and their organization.

Plan their satisfaction

Customer delight begins during the sale.
The signing of the agreement or writing the check doesn't end the sale. That's hen the sale begins. The customer's lasting impression begins during the sale and is molded after the sale. Follow up by phone letter, note and inquiry are critical to developing repeat business - and a delighted customer.

Plan your style.
The successful salesperson invests time in planning. Delivering customer delight requires a planned, unique style that has the potential to become a viable service trademark.

Anticipate customer needs.
Anticipating the needs of tomorrow's delighted customer requires an insight into market characteristics of your customer, as well as a willingness to change. Strategic planning and continuous customer inquiry are opportunities effective salespeople use to gain access to the leading edge of market trends.

Creating customer delight

Creating delight is unconditional.
We can't choose the circumstances we wish to exist when delivering customer delight. There are times when creating a delighted customer will come at a cost. Nonetheless, our commitment must be uninterrupted by convenience or short -term profit consideration.

Customer delight requires a good product or service.
Many salespeople have a habit of cutting corners, believing they're still capable of building strong customer relationship. It's a delusion.

Customer delight requires not only the right intent, but the right words.
We often choose harsh words when dealing with customer complaints. "You should" is better stated as "Would you consider" or "May I suggest." "Let me check" is better phrased as "May I check for you," etc.

Growth Creates Growth.
We must provide satisfaction, happiness, wealth, or self-image to have a delighted customer. We will achieve success by offering a product or service that meets needs in an extraordinary way. When that occurs, customer delight is possible. When it doesn't, it isn't.

Delightful satisfaction requires flexibility
Since the "delightful feeling" is highly personal, what pleases one customer may not thrill the next. Delivering this feeling requires a supple, athletic flexibility adaptable to each situation. Bend with the need. Agility and adaptability, combined with sincere effort, create optimum results.

Adapted from Habits of Wealty, by Bill Byrne (The Berkley Publishing Group, New York). Mr. Byrne is the founder and president of several successful corporations in the food service, personal development and publishing industries. He is also a noted speaker and authority on the topic of futuristic leadership.