We just returned from our vacation in Aruba. We’ve been there many times and own a timeshare at the Marriott Surf Club. We go to just get away and relax – no site seeing, no golf – just reading, sunning, swimming and oh, yes a bit of gambling at night for entertainment.

Of course, no great trip would be complete without a marketing experience blog post upon my return!

We went for dinner at the Sunset Grill at the Radisson Hotel, our usual spot for our anniversary. In response to a joke by the waiter about the dangers of the extremely large steak knife, I mentioned it was our anniversary so my husband need not worry about the size of the knife.

As usual we had a wonderful dinner, but without warning, out came the waiter with this fantastic dessert prepared just for us! Warm chocolate souffle with ice cream was heavenly, but the preparation, presentation and surprise was just the best.

Having a wonderful, romantic dinner was what we expected when we went to the Sunset Grill. This surprise by the waiter not only exceeded our expectations, it made the experience much more memorable.

Marketing Tip

Surprise your customers with something that they don’t expect to make their every experience with you pleasantly memorable. A dessert really didn’t cost a lot but the impression it made on us was quite extensive. Quality service is always appreciated although sometimes expected. But a surprise bonus, such as this totally unexpected, wonderful dessert, goes a long way towards developing or solidifying your long-term relationships with your valued customers and strengthening your brand in their eyes.

What small surprise can you give your valued customers and clients to make their experience with you memorable?

©2012 Masterful Marketing. All Rights Reserved.

Surprise – The Secret to Exceeding Expectations is an original post from Debra Murphy, Small Business Marketing Coach: Masterful Marketing - Marketing in the New Media World. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Debra on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

The experience your customer gets from your business has the ultimate effect on whether they will do business with you now or ever again. One difficult experience can offset the effects on all your good marketing you have done. Putting roadblocks in place cause dissatisfaction and a negative experience, no matter how great your service initially was. One bad experience will be spoken about more in blogs and on the Web than a 100 good experiences. We would hope it was the opposite but people speak out about negative experiences more freely than positive ones.

The Experience

I bought Cuisinart replacement filters for my coffee maker through Amazon which was fulfilled by SmallAppliance.com. The cost was under $20.

When the package arrived, two of the three boxes of filters were fine. In the third box, one of the filters was broken and the charcoal was loose inside the packaging. It was obvious that the filter was not broken during transit as the box and cellophane packaging was not opened or damaged.

I called SmallAppliance.com to get a replacement for the broken filter. I was told I had to take a picture and send it to them for proof of the damage so they could provide it to Cuisinart for them to get a refund. Then I was told that once I got the replacement I had to return the box with the broken filter.

I asked why for a $7 item I had to jump through hoops to get it replaced when most times the merchant just sends another and says keep the damaged item? Their answer was that they didn’t like it either but it was what Cuisinart required of them in order to get a refund for the damaged goods.

Ok, call me crazy but was this really worth my dissatisfaction for an item that may have cost Cuisinart 10 cents to make that was defective from the time it left their warehouse? Is this Cuisinart’s way of punishing distributors because they can sell the product cheaper than the manufacturer can (Cuisinart charged $10 vs. $7 from SmallAppliances.com for the single box of 2 filters)?

I’m letting SmallAppliance.com off the hook here only because I had to believe them when they said they had to do this to get a refund from Cuisinart. Plus they got points when the manager emailed me back when she got the picture and apologized profusely again about the inconvenience.

This return policy/process should be reviewed by the management of both companies. Was this really worth the effort for the negative feelings I have now? I love Cuisinart appliances, but I will now think twice before I buy another in the event I need to return a replacement part.

The Marketing Lesson

Review your processes you use with your clients. If they take more effort than they are worth, streamline or better, eliminate them. Make it as easy to do business with you as you can. When you are providing a service to your customers or clients (distributors are service businesses, not product businesses), make the entire experience one of your key differentiators that get you noticed over the competition.

©2012 Masterful Marketing. All Rights Reserved.

Customer Experience & Marketing is an original post from Debra Murphy, Small Business Marketing Coach: Masterful Marketing - Marketing in the New Media World. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Debra on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

I was offered a great promotional deal from Comcast to move my phone lines to their service which saved me about $90 a month in phone service for the next 12 months and about $50 after that. Since we already had cable TV and Internet through them, the deal was one phone for free for 12 months and a second line for $20. With these savings, and the fact that our phone lines have never been the best quality, I decided to give it a try.

The process to switch was pretty smooth and so far I like the phone service. It has a lot of options I didn’t have on my business line through Verizon (which they offer but I never was successful at getting them turned on) and our home line which I added for the $20 also has unlimited calling, making that even a better deal (our home line was bare bones basic which we still paid $30 for!).

Now the marketing lesson here is what Verizon didn’t do to save a customer. All I got from them was a recorded message on my answering machine and two form letters sent special delivery (one for each phone number) saying the same thing they said in the recorded message. This actually made me laugh as I felt that I was not important enough to save. I hope they didn’t think that the special delivery of the letters would make me feel special!

Had I received a call from a human to discuss my switch with them, I would have at least felt as if losing a customer for whatever reason was important to them. Even if they couldn’t match the price and service Comcast is offering, they may have learned something from our conversation.

Every one who touches a customer has to be part of the marketing effort to ensure your customers maintain a high impression of your business. Making it human and personal is still the best way to maintain a relationship, even if you lose that customer. Who knows, that customer may want to come back someday and they will remember the personalized touch.

©2012 Masterful Marketing. All Rights Reserved.

The Verizon Experience is an original post from Debra Murphy, Small Business Marketing Coach: Masterful Marketing - Marketing in the New Media World. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Debra on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.