No post I’ve written has elicited feedback equal to what I received from Why People Don’t Pay Attention to the Price of a Room at the Four Seasons. While the response has been universally positive, I am concerned that there may be some misunderstanding about what I mean by a remarkable client experience.

For those that don’t want to go back to the previous post, I defined a remarkable experience as:

Reading my mind. Really, that’s all your prospects, customers and clients want. They want what they want, the way they want it (preferably, without having to ask for it) – no more, no less.

A number of the responses I’ve received made me think the people who wrote feel their companies have always tried to provide a “Four Seasons” type experience. Judging from the tone of their responses, what they meant was that they work to provide a ‘fine, upscale, luxurious’ experience. The point I wanted to make was that one does not need to be ‘upscale’ to be remarkable.

Wal-Mart provides a remarkable experience. Wal-Mart gives its customers exactly what they want and what they expect – no more, no less. (Though as Wal-Mart now talks about moving up-market to compete with Target, I wonder if they will be able to read their new customers’ minds or continue to be in tune with their current ones.)

Southwest has always provided a remarkable experience, and no one would confuse Southwest with The Four Seasons.

So remember, a ‘fine, upscale, luxurious’ experience is only remarkable if that is actually what your customers want.

Keep the comments coming.