15 years ago, I brought Grizzly home for my then newborn daughter, Sage. Grizzly was our family’s faithful companion for many years and we learned to love his many quirks, including his entitled attitude and constant lookout for food. Unfortunately, on October 22nd, we had to say goodbye to our little Grizzly. Without Grizzly, our family felt incomplete without him waddling around the backyard greeting us hello when we got home every day. Even though this experience was tough, we learned a lot from it and were given

When we got the call that Grizzly’s ashes were ready to be picked up, my wife put off going because she just didn’t want to admit that he was really gone. Never having had to say goodbye to a pet, we didn’t know what to expect. A close friend braced us – she said, just have an urn ready because you never know how they will give him to you. We opened the bag to find the below contents:

From the personalised urn to the touching paw print, this was what we need to say goodbye to out Grizz. Everything about the presentation and carefully thought out details eased our minds and allowed us as a family it memorialize our lost pet.

It made me think about my clients and wonder how as a business owner I could create an exceptional client experience – that is unexpected and welcomed. We already give out gifts and make sure we go above and beyond, but this is more than that. This is taking a job to the next level – not just over-delivering. Here’s what I came up with:

1. Make an upgrade: Look at your current services and how you deliver finished products. Do some research and get inspiration of how you can package your client handoff in a more impressive and special way.

2. Implement the change: Gather the resources needed to make it happen. Maybe it’s packaging, graphics, or just general protocol – but get it implemented.

3. Train your Team: Make sure your team is aware of the new protocol and train them to match the experience.

Again, there is a difference between over-delivering and actually creating an experience. If you are presenting a client with their system, over-delivering would mean fulfilling the job almost flawlessly – creating an experience would look like scheduling a demo where you walk the house with the client and give them a blueprint of their system in a personalized manual. Think outside the box.

I would love to hear what you come up with.

Thanks for reading!