We all look favourably on suppliers that, in our opinion, provide best value for money. This can sometimes be the cheapest. Most of the time it is one of the more expensive options and we chose them because “They go the extra mile”.

In our own businesses it also pays to deliver that bit more. It cements the relationship and helps to build additional levels of trust. This additional trust helps us to extend the profitable duration of the relationship or to up-sell additional products and services.

Motives
Your motives in a business relationship have a profound impact on the degree of trust that you establish with your clients and prospects. In planning to over-deliver, your primary motive should always be that of securing a long term, mutually beneficial relationship.

Pitfalls

• Always be careful when agreeing the scope of your offer with an individual client. If the client need exceeds their willingness to pay, you may find yourself reducing the scope of your offer to fit the budget and then being expected to deliver the entire need for the reduced price.
• Take care when up-selling from an initial work package – you do not want the client to resent the additional expense.

Examples:

• Sir Jackie Stewart, (See his autobiography, Winning is Not Enough) in all his business relationships adopted an “Over Deliver” mentality. This is one of the reasons that his contractual relationship with Ford lasted for forty years and his relationship with Rolex is still running like clockwork.
• Lexus have a service mentality that goes the extra mile and reap the rewards in customer satisfaction, faster time to establish a premium brand in an over-crowded market and in market share. J.D. Power – 2007 UK Car Customer Satisfaction Index Study 1st Place, Gold Award in Customer Satisfaction in the United Kingdom – Lexus

This was a guest post by Paul Fileman of SPS who are a national team of proven senior management professionals, passionate about working to help businesses achieve their next level of development and performance. Whether they are facing market changes, financial problems, people/skills issues, or are preparing a major project, they offer dedicated support from a multi-disciplined team of experts.

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