Being in business is all about providing a service. The entire concept of “service” is based around giving. They key is to know what to give, when, and how much.

When you meet people’s expectations, it’s good business. When exceed their expectations, it’s great business. Let’s look at a few examples of how this applies to different aspects of the corporate world.

Customers and Clients
When something goes wrong with a customer, they expect to be compensated for their loss. Even adequate compensation will leave a bad image of your company in the customer’s memory. However, if you exceed their expectations you’ve not only won a customer for life, but gained massive amounts of free publicity.
For example, let’s say that you own a car repair garage. A customer leaves their vehicle for a standard oil change and is promised their car back in 1 hour. When they return at the end of the hour the job is not complete, as the oil filter for their car was not in stock. In addition, the filter they previously had was destroyed in the removal so they can not take the vehicle back until the part can be replaced. This will take an additional 2 hours.
The customer is understandably very upset. Even when the service is completed and the car returned, there is a good chance that you’ve lost a client. Even offering a discount for the service, as many companies would do, leaves the customer dubious about the business’ competency. However, exceeding the customer’s expectations by comping the entire oil service, as well as driving the customer to a nearby restaurant and picking up the tab while they wait, will leave a lasting positive impression. The oil change and meal combined would be less than $100, yet worth many times that in free advertising. Not mention the $100 will probably be deductible at tax time. When the service is extremely good or extremely bad it is guaranteed that the word will spread.

Employees
The same mentality holds true with a business’ employees. When their expectations are met, they will perform well enough to stay employed. When the employee’s expectations are exceeded, they will go out of their way to perform. Giving more than is expected of everything from praise, to constructive criticism, to support, garners the respect and loyalty of a business’ employees. Recognition, not monetary compensation, is often the top motivator for highly productive and happy employees. Giving people the recognition deserved is so unexpected in today’s workplace that the feeling of pride and accomplishment makes employees want to excel.

Investors
Giving more than expected applies to your investors as well. If your business projected profits of 15% for your investors and gave them a return of 30%, the next time you are searching for funds for a new venture, you may find yourself turning money away.

It all comes back to relationships, personal and business are intertwined. The more you put in, the more you are guaranteed to get back.