Is Delight Part of Your Business Culture?

Is Client Delight something that will grow your business income, or is it just a “hokey” way to describe how you already serve and satisfy your customers? More than 25 years ago, we implemented a client delight program at a private bank, documenting significant revenue and net income improvements as a result. The concept of Client Delight is timeless, although we hear little about it today.

What is Client Delight?

The dictionary defines delight as “something that gives great pleasure or enjoyment.” When you try a new restaurant in your neighborhood, and later a friend asks you about it, and you say it was “pretty good” while describing what you ate, then you were satisfied.

When you try that restaurant and can’t wait to see a friend to tell them they really have to go eat there, then you are delighted. We used to survey clients on a 10-point scale, and those giving us a 9 or 10 were delighted, while those giving 6-8 were satisfied. One caveat: if you tell customers they’ll receive a survey and “please give us a 9 or 10,” your results are worthless, so the above scale doesn’t work. The survey must be anonymous, with no pressure.

Why Client Delight Matters for Business Growth

In the private banking business, research showed that more than 90% of new business comes from referrals, and that a delighted client is six times more likely than a satisfied client to refer someone. That research usually caused staff to perk up and ask: how then do they delight their clients?

How do You Delight Clients?

Investment managers used to tell us that their clients only care about investment returns, so they must outperform the market. If the market returned 7% this year, and the manager did 14%, then the client probably is delighted; the manager had better double the market again next year. However, most likely, that manager returned something between 6% and 8%; now how do they delight the client?

Other bankers would say their clients are wealthy, so you need to give them tickets to the Super Bowl. Yes, that will delight most clients, but it’s expensive and not something that can be done for very many clients.

Delight must start with doing the basics right. If you have a restaurant, it must be clean and the food must have consistent quality and taste. If you are a manufacturing company, your products must have consistent quality, and your sales and service must be accessible, friendly, and responsive. If you stop right there, you will generally have satisfied clients. Ken Blanchard, in his book Raving Fans, said “Your customers are a revolt waiting to happen.

They’re only satisfied because expectations are so low and because no one else is doing any better.” Delight must go further.

The difference between businesses who delight businesses that satisfy is often small or subtle. Does the wait staff remember you from one visit to the next? Does the service representative greet you with a smile and take an extra moment to value you as a customer? Does the service feel personal or institutional? Is the performance consistent from one experience to the next? Are they proactive?

Each industry is somewhat different, so you might want to gather your team and discuss what delight will look like for you. In my old industry, we explained that delight revolved around relationship. Is the banker proactive, or does the client always have to initiate contact? Do they know their clients, including personal details such as their hobbies, where they went to school, and what is happening with the family? Can clients trust that they will take care of their family properly when something happens to them? Is the banker just focused on sales or is the relationship more important?

We told bankers that each of their staff should have the goal of wow’ing at least one client every day. That might be a handwritten note, a proactive contact, checking in to see how their grandchild did at the recital last weekend, or something similar. The wow stories were incredible. Staff were competing to come up with unique (and generally very low-cost) ways to Wow clients.

We recall one team delivering a bag of crayons and coloring books to one of their clients that was keeping their grandkids for a week. Some offices were diligent to always give the receptionist the names of any clients coming into the office, so they could be warmly greeted by name upon arrival. 

Teams mailed many thank you notes and started conversations by asking about the client’s favorite pet rather than jumping into business matters. 

At nearly every large company that we’ve seen, across industries, there are pockets of people who understand this concept and are doing it right. Generally, in the office next door to that person is someone who doesn’t get it. For the person doing it right, the problem arises when their client needs service or support from someone else inside their business, and they experience something less than delight.

We found that one predictor for how well a business or group is delighting their clients is how they speak about their clients. If they complain about their clients around the water cooler or ridicule their clients’ behavior, that attitude invariably comes through in the client interactions. Leadership should be especially careful to ensure they speak positively at meetings and reverse negative talk about clients when they hear it.