How to Delight Customers Without Being a Doormat

Clients will reward you for providing amazing service, but they can also ask for too much. Here’s how to strike the right balance.

BY KEVIN J. RYAN, FREELANCE WRITER @WHERESKR

From left: Samantha Hill, Jamie Munoz, and Marlon Gray. Photography by Nathan Bajar

Going above and beyond for your clients is a big part of being a successful entrepreneur, but it can also create unrealistic expectations. If you’re always overdelivering, it’s just a matter of time before you start being taken advantage of, whether your customers realize it or not. So how do you know when it makes sense to provide exceptional service? And does every customer deserve the white-glove treatment at one point or another?

To answer these questions, we gathered three founders of fast-growing service businesses: Marlon Gray, founder of mental health services company Empower U; Samantha Hill, founder of architectural firm Design With Skill; and Jamie Munoz, founder of fractional leadership company Catalyst Integrators. We started by asking: What does exceptional service look like at your company?

MUNOZ: We provide community, coaching, and internal support for COOs through professional integrators. When I think about white-glove experience, I think about other places I’ve been where I’ve had this amazing experience that makes me want to go back and tell all my friends about it. Inevitably, that’s what creates repeat customers and raving fans. It’s how you’re cared for. We love sending our clients gifts, for example. But you also have to make sure that it doesn’t tip to the other side, where you’re being taken advantage of. You teach your clients how to treat you and how to interact with you. By showing up in a way that shows care to our clients, they will see us not just as a vendor or somebody they’re dealing with transactionally.

GRAY: We are a behavioral health provider that works with children........

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