What happens to your business if you get 97% right with your clients?

I have a few “case studies” to help us examine this…

Case Study #1: McDonald’s Drive Thru. I drive up to the window and am greeted, place my order and see the correct total appear on the screen. I drive forward and am greeted by the voice who turns out to be a cheerful employee who completes my transaction and invites me to move forward still.

A new cheerful employee begins to hand bags of food through the most wonderful invention known to mother’s of little ones in car-seats! I get my chocolate milk shake (oh how I’ve been needing that today) and french fires (who doesn’t love chocolate and salt?), the kids happy meals come next – every one has the proper drink and toy… Extra napkins have been stuffed in the bag and I’ve been given the okay to go and so I head back out on the road.

Everything get’s passed around and that’s when I realize they forgot the straws. They got 97% right, but that chocolate milkshake that I can’t drink for fear it will end up in my lap makes the 3% very apparent!

Case Study #2: The Cleaned Kitchen. My sweet husband does the dishes for me a lot and I always appreciate his willingness to help me so much (please don’t stop doing it after you read this babe). I’ll come downstairs, still trying to rub the sleep from my eyes and find the kitchen put back to it’s proper order. It’s set’s my whole day up to be a good day – really and truly!

I get the kids breakfast made and begin to unload the dishwasher and as I start to pull out the bowls and plates I realize I’m going to need to hand wash many of them again because food is now adhered like cement thanks to a fantastically hot dry cycle and a certain someone who “forgot” to rinse the dishes first.

He got 97% right but instead of putting the dishes away in gleeful bliss, I start realizing that I need to get out a sand blaster to remove baked (twice now) macaroni and cheese from a pan.

Case Study #3: The Beauty Bar. I have found this really cool organic bronzing place by my house. Don’t laugh, I am so white that I have a greenish tint to me, I have been banned from tanning beds (I know that’s a smart thing) by my husband and so I found this very cool alternative… I love *almost* everything about it.

The staff is really nice, the product is awesome, I get to feel good and look like I’m back in Hawaii when I leave… And it’s 100% natural and organic. They’ll even walk you to your car with an umbrella when it’s raining to make sure you don’t get any drip spots while you’re still in the “tacky” stage. Seems pretty awesome right? All except one thing, I can never be sure they’ll be open! They’ve changed the store hours at least 4 or 5 times in the last year alternating days they are closed, so right when I think I know the schedule and that I can go in I find out I’m wrong (again). I’ve even gone when they say they are open only to find the lights out with the doors locked.

They have 97% so right! But that 3% is almost a deal breaker, I’ve gone 3 times now to find their door saying that they should be open and ready for business and yet they’re not.

Take a good look at your business, 97% isn’t enough. We have to give 100%, no actually that’s not true – they expect 100% so if you’re going to give clients something to talk about, you have to give one hundred AND TEN percent!

Have any “case studies” you want to share or examples of how you’re giving 110%? Leave a comment!