Principle of War #11 – Surprise

When good is not good enough, surprise customers with “wow” factors.

Companies that can continuously improve, adapt, and adjust develop a competitive advantage and build customer loyalty. 

Green and Black Belts are familiar with the Kano Model, which challenges Kaizen teams to think of delighters (wow factors). Customers do not ask for delighters, we deliberately add a delighter to create a pleasant surprise.

Delighters can take any shape from a mint on your hotel room pillow, color coding folders, or a new technology. No matter the scale we (Lean Six Sigma folks) are constantly asking: “Who is the customer?”, “What does the customer value?”, and “What could we do to delight our customer?” Keep in mind this can be internal or external customers. 

One quick first hand example: Flying home on Delta airlines I had a tight connection, I made it, my bags did not. Upon landing the Delta app notified me my bags did not make it to Vegas and will be arriving later in the day. In the app I entered my home address and they delivered the bags later that day. It was awesome, I got off plane went straight to taxi line and was home in no time. In the past I would have waited at baggage claim until it was clear my bags were not here, then filled out the paperwork, all the while getting frustrated. Not sure how many other airlines use this technology, but it is a delighter to me!

Surprise your customer with a “delighter”.