Delight is what people really want. They may not say it, but their actions will reveal it if you pay attention. People want to be wowed. They want you to go beyond giving them the basics. They want to see that you have put in the effort to satisfy them and prioritise their needs in your business.

I mean, they could have taken their patronage somewhere else, couldn’t they? If they chose to invest in your business, make them see that it’s worth it and remind them regularly through your actions that they made the right decision.

Delight is intangible but noticeable. It’s that little extra that makes the difference. It may not be monumental, but it matters.

As an entrepreneur with multiple businesses, I can tell you that aiming to delight your customers pays off more than simply delivering the service and ending the transaction.

When you delight your customers, you give them a reason to keep coming back. Here are practical ways you can delight your customers from my experience:

1. Pay attention to your customers: Understand their peculiarities and make them understand that you are paying attention. If a client communicates a preference once or twice, you should be paying attention because it would do no good if they have to repeat themselves again and again, maybe because you didn’t think what they said mattered to be noted.
2. Aim to satisfy them: It may not be convenient, but it would pay in the long run. However, don’t aim to satisfy them because you have an ulterior motive. Do what you need to do excellently well without any form of expectation. Satisfaction is when you have exceeded their peculiar expectations. “Peculiar” because not all expectations are the same. Expectations vary, and you need to pay attention to understand each client’s needs and exceed those expectations. This may be a bit cumbersome for a brand with thousands of clients; in this case, leverage tools that can help you understand what the consensus is saying.
3. Document and document: Customers want to ensure you know what you’re doing, and accurate, on-time documentation can demonstrate this. Documentation helps you stay prepared and demonstrates that you are serious about your business. 
4. Take feedback graciously: Don’t take feedback personally. Take the lessons and leave the rest. But ensure you have learnt from the feedback. Don’t take offense. Let feedback be a tool for growth, not for condemnation.
5. Respect them and be kind to them: Genuinely respect them and be kind to them. There is no benefit in being mean. 
6. Be intentional: Be proactive and act with purpose. Intentionality shows that you are proactive and prepared. Intentionality here shows that you respect your clients.
7. Don’t burn bridges: When a business relationship ends, exit gracefully and keep the doors open. You never know what opportunities may come your way in the future or where you might need the help of your customers.
8. Communicate effectively: Ensure that you are a proactive communicator. Keep your clients up-to-date. If anything changes in the plans you have made with your clients, it is important to communicate the changes.
9. Have integrity: Do that which you say you will do and be someone your clients can trust.
10. Keep growing: As you grow, your service grows, and how you positively impact your customer grows.

Delighting customers is important as a business owner. In what other ways can we delight customers? Drop your comments below.

I mean, why would I want to spend so much time discovering the same thing over and over again when I can just document it and adapt it into a system?

This “systems” thinking is one thing that has helped me in building a business. I have found out that goals aren’t enough; we need to create a system that works and one where we no longer need to spend so much effort trying to develop from scratch repeatedly.

Have you found a system that works for your business? Or have you taken the time to pay attention to what you do to ensure that you are writing down the patterns that work and the trails you need to monitor?

However, I would like to say that just because you have found a system working for you does not mean that the system cannot fail or that you cannot refine it. You can always check in on the system to refine it. However, you need to have a system first.

Benefits of having a system:

• It saves so much time in reinventing the wheel
• It helps you notice patterns
• It is easy to teach others

There are so many systems you can create in your business to make it work better; here are some:

• Hiring system
• Accounting system
• Client onboarding system
• Customer service system
• Client feedback system
• Staff performance review system

Takeaways for you:

• Sit down and analyse your business; what systems do you need to create?
• Which of these systems do you need to start with?
• How often will you check in on these systems?
• How can you develop a mentality of transforming goals into systems?

Did you enjoy this? I would love to hear from you in the comment section below.

“So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.” – Matthew 25:28-28 (NKJV)

In the parable of the talents, we see that the person who does more with what they have been given will be entrusted more.

Ask yourself, have I judiciously taken care of what God has given me at this point? When the big thing I’m waiting for comes, am I in the right position to receive and handle it?

As such, responsibility comes before elevation. How responsible you are shows your readiness for the next thing you have been waiting for.

Practical ways to demonstrate responsibility:

1. Show an ownership mentality: Don’t see tasks as things that were merely given to you to complete and move on to the next thing quickly. Instead, see every task as an opportunity to showcase your craft and append your signature. Your signature here means how you do this that people now know you as. Every task communicates something about you. When you cultivate an ownership mentality, you do things with the mindset of being an “owner.” When you own something, you want to ensure it doesn’t spoil or fail. You want to ensure that the thing succeeds and serves its purpose.
2. Cultivate a growth mindset: A growth mindset helps you approach issues differently. A growth mindset enables you to be problem-solving in nature. A growth mindset stands you out and allows you to be more responsible. A growth mindset says that you can grow, you can be teachable, and you can overcome obstacles. However, a fixed mindset, which is the opposite of a growth mindset, does not recognise all these.
3. See every challenge as an opportunity: Every time you encounter a challenge with a task, seek to solve that challenge so that when next you are faced with similar challenges, you know how to solve it and you are better off for it. So don’t run away from challenges; embrace them and sharpen your skills through them.
4. See your tasks to completion: When you are entrusted with something, see that you understand what it means to be “done” with that task. In most cases, “done” means that nothing is left to be done concerning the task. It means that you have achieved the intended goal of the task. When you don’t see a task done to completion, then you are not making a way to take responsibility for that task.

Remember, responsibility before elevation. Take responsibility today!

I came to the conclusion that I am nothing without God, and I can do NOTHING outside of Him. And so, what this means is that I involve God in EVERYTHING I do. Doing this means that God shows me if that thing I am doing is of Him or not or how I need to do that thing to come out victorious.

However, just like any other thing in life, fear may try to creep in to steal one’s joy and focus, and one begins to derail, and then everything goes down the drain from there. 

Fear may want to come in through different places – that new project you want to work on, that new brief that you don’t know how to tackle, that news that seems to have spoilt the plans you have carefully laid out.

So, how do you seem to get out of this?

Before now, one of the ways I used to allow fear was when I was faced with a project or brief that I was not sure of how to tackle it. I allowed fear to cripple me because I don’t know what the first step of what I should do is or where to go, or what question to ask.

However, one thing is certain, once I ask God for wisdom or help concerning that project, solutions begin to come to me, and I know the next course of action to take.

This verse comes to mind whenever I am feeling fear or when my mind is playing tricks on me with so many intrusive thoughts:

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” – 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)

POWER

LOVE

SOUND MIND

You do not need to fear because God has empowered us with the 3 things above. 

Whatever it is troubling you, you need to surrender it to God and take on the resources He has provided us with in His Word. Go to His Word and take comfort there.