Exceeding Expectations

There was a great story I heard today on exceeding expectations. There was a conference being held in a Singapore Hotel last fall for customer service personnel. The timing of this conference was during the baseball World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox.

Many of the corporate presenters were from Boston and even though a World Series had not been won by Boston in 86 years, enthusiasm was high. Singapore is twelve plus hours ahead of Boston. So any game starting at 5:00pm Boston time would mean a 5:00am start the next morning in Singapore.

The hotel manager was asked if they could set up a television for viewing to which he agreed. When the time came, a large television, some chairs and snacks were available. The games tended to run into the conference times so on the third day, the manager was asked if the hotel could tape the game for viewing later.

That evening, the hotel manager indicated to go to a large room on the second floor in order to watch the taped game. Expecting the same television, to everyone’s delight, a very large screen television, couch and chairs were set up. There were hot dogs and hamburgers, sodas, pretzels and all of the food one would expect in a ballpark. The hotel had gone so far as to hang pennants all around the room with pictures of all the ball players.

An expectation far exceeded which resulted in some very happy people. At least the Boston folks were happy. So how does this translate into something more. One of the people attending the Singapore Hotel World Series party was a senior vice-president. He was so impressed with this level of customer service, the next year’s conference for that area was agreed. This hotel had won the conference business for 500 people to be in attendance.

You too can go above and beyond. Do more then someone expects without expectation that reward will be immediate. Do more then someone expects and the long term impact will result in great things. Develop this idea as habit and you will see an increase in business or in your own job. Set a mark and out perform.