Exceeding Expectations: The PPT Edition

In our last post, we discussed the importance of exceeding customer expectations by taking an ordinary product and creating an unexpectedly amazing experience with it. But what does it take to achieve this with an everyday tool like PowerPoint?

The truth is, everybody has, or will, use PowerPoint. It’s on more than 500 million computers worldwide, and is probably even on yours right now. However, it takes a unique expertise to strategically use this tool to its full potential – a skill that most don’t even know exists.

An Australian presentation design company put it this way: “The hurdle we need to overcome is not introducing presentation design to the world, the hurdle is to show the world what presentation design SHOULD be.”

We couldn’t agree more.

That’s why we developed our first-ever promotional PowerPoint demo, to reveal all of PowerPoint’s unknown capabilities and to show how we use it every day: to exceed expectations. The file represents our own original story and animation, includes highly editable and reusable elements, and is only 10MB, which means it can be sent through most email servers. Take a look by clicking here or the image below and let us know what you think through this post, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

And yes, this was created in PowerPoint… what were you expecting?

Exceed Expectations: We Never Let You Down

Once upon a time, a guy needed a new suit, pronto. The business event was the next day and he had less than 24 hours to ensure he looked the part. So, he headed over to his local mall to make a selection. But once he found the right one, the situation stopped going so smooth. The suit would not be ready for pickup until the next day, during which time he would be stuck in his office, swamped with work and unable to pick it up.

And then: a customer service miracle…

The next day, a store employee hand-delivered the now-ready suit into the guy’s apartment building for him while he was at work. The store arranged to do this even though rush home delivery is not one of their services. When the guy returned home from work in a hurry, the suit was already there, neatly laid out for him, just as the store had arranged.

That guy was our CEO, the store was Nordstrom, and that is a true example of what Exceeds Expectations means to us: We Never Let You Down.

Going above and beyond for your customers is something that, for some, comes as second nature, and that is why it holds an important place in our company’s Core Values. It’s about coming up with workable solutions for your client even when no immediate answer is available. It requires collaboration, cultivates teamwork, incorporates diverse talents, and produces a well-deserved feeling of accomplishment and pride once the job is done.

And now more than ever before, with the overflow of advertisements and marketing content fighting for consumers’ attention, it’s important to not only meet your customers’ expectations, but to far surpass them. This is best explained by a consumer study recently posted by ClientHeartbeat, which explains that customer expectations have two levels: desired and sufficient. The desired level is the service the customer hopes to obtain while the sufficient level is the service that the customer finds acceptable.

The takeaway from this is that client “satisfaction” is not always something to brag about. For example, if you offered a product at a too-good-to-be-true price, your client is probably expecting just that, a below-average end product. When you provide them with that, then yes, their expectations were met, but it’s because their expectations were low in the first place.

In order to reach that desired level, you must clearly outline and understand your promises to your clients, because this is what makes up their expectations. Moreover, these promises must hold true to what makes your services unique, or there is no way their expectations can be met. Do you promise the freshest ingredients, quickest turnaround, or perhaps the coolest animations in PowerPoint?

Define what you do best, set realistic expectations for your customers, and keep that promise to them. Then go beyond that and never let them down. Go ahead, exceed their expectations for an unexpectedly amazing experience (which by the way, is next week’s core value!)

Customer Obsessed: Why Every Detail Matters

“It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.” – John Wooden

Last week, we announced the launch of our core values series, where we will share our company’s core values with you and what they mean to us, and celebrate examples of those who bring them to life. And of course, we want to hear what they mean to you! First up: Customer Obsessed.

When our company discussed examples of Customer Obsessed, we soon noticed a pattern. Whether it was a Disney employee greeting guests’ daughters as “princesses,” or providing our clients with the slide they asked for as well as alternates because they have the potential to improve the presentation, even if they didn’t ask for it, it was the little things, the attention to even the smallest of details that made the overall customer experience so memorable.

Keeping in mind, given your resources, the size of your company, and your position, these “customer obsessed” gestures do not have to be over the top, such as when WestJet, an airline company, literally created a holiday miracle for their guests by surprising them at the arrival terminal with exactly what each traveler had on their wish list (see video below). Upholding an “every detail matters” approach to your work can be big or small; a welcoming smile, a genuine positive attitude, and enthusiasm to help the customer through every step of the process, even though you’re stuck working the night shift, leaves a longer lasting impression than you may think.

Another pattern also appeared: we recognized companies, products, and services that were exceptionally customer-centric. For example, selling back old college textbooks seemed to be a daunting process, which is why I put it off for years. Yet I finally sold them online because Amazon made it so easy (I may have clicked three buttons max). Because Amazon had strategically paid attention to every detail of the process, from creating a completely user-friendly system to the point where the site could conveniently anticipate my next step, the overall experience was completely painless, and, to my surprise, enjoyable.

So whether you’re going the extra mile, or even just an extra inch, that extra effort to pay attention to even the smallest of details keeps your customers coming back.

Got a certain company in mind that’s customer obsessed too? Tell us about it in our comments section and stay tuned for our next topic in this series: Exceed Expectations!

Core Values: It’s an Obsession

Pop quiz: What’s the golden rule of customer service?

If you answered “The Customer is Always Right,” that’s probably because it’s one of the first things you learned in the workforce. But did you actually believe it? This is where values come in…

Like a unique name or logo, companies need strong core values to define what sets them apart. Values are crucially different from rules. Rules can feel isolating and artificial, whereas values define the very heart and soul of a company. They create a culture, encourage creativity and collaboration, and affect every aspect of the company from the employees it attracts to how those employees interact with one another and clients when the going gets tough.

Most importantly, values are beliefs that employees can individually interpret and experience for themselves. Joris Luijke, human resources director at Atlassian, Australia’s largest software exporter, puts it this way: “You can’t impose a value on a company, it’s not like a company goal or KPI. It needs to bubble up from below and it needs to be genuinely felt by all the staff.”

So it should come as no surprise that companies who are famous for their customer service also include out-of-the-box values in their company culture. To name a few:

• Zappos: Create fun and a little weirdness
• Disney: Honor and respect the trust people place in us
• Amazon: Have backbone; disagree and commit
• Google: You can be serious without a suit
• Atlassian: No bulls–t

This is why Infinitely Big is excited to introduce you to our own Core Values Series. We’ll be posting a series of the five core values of our company and letting you know what each means to us. We would love to hear what they mean to you, and please share yours with us!

First up: Customer-Obsessed. Stay tuned to discover why every detail matters!