As soon as you start to see your business as a reaction-making machine, you begin to make decisions very differently. Think of it this way: A chef isn't preparing an entrée: he is, in fact, preparing a guest reaction. The entrée is the vehicle, not the product. The product is the customer reaction.
- Jon Taffer, Raise the Bar
While the above tip is written with businesses that deliver a physical product in mind, the message is just as compelling and relevant for those that deliver a service. No matter what, your product is the reaction of those people that interact with you and what you do. The biggest takeaway from this is that you can't be complacent just because you believe in the quality of your product or service - if your customers aren't sitting up and taking note, you aren't delivering the product you think you are. You may be delivering something of great quality, but that doesn't mean it is as useful or relevant to your customers as you think. Or perhaps that very same level of quality has become so expected that it has become boring to your customers. So take a step back and think - how can you deliver a "wow" reaction and a stellar customer experience? And how are you going to measure and observe that reaction to know that you are on the right track?