5% more will get you 50% more
This is how putting in an extra 5% in everything can get us 50% better results.
I, like you, probably do appreciate it when people exceed your expectations because it’s so rare.
A while back, I met Bill while playing tennis, and he said he restrings rackets. He seemed like a nice guy so when I needed a restring and grip, I gave him my racket.* Two days later, he was back on the court with my new strung racket. I was stoked. * He excitedly told me how he picked the strings for me and how they would help my style player. He pointed out where he painted the chips on my racket. * What! Unreal. Then he proceeded to explain how to avoid the tennis elbow I was experiencing recently. And when I paid him, it was cheaper than the store!
I was so blown away at the level of service he gave me.* Most people do the bare minimum to get the job done. How much extra time did that take him? A couple of minutes, maybe. But when you think of the lifelong customers he will keep, he suddenly has a great little retirement business that he loves.
Ask yourself, are there places in your life where you can give people a little more discretionary effort? Can you add 5% more effort to make people happy when they least expect it? It’s the 5% they will remember. Doing that will take little effort and the pay off will be 10x greater than your work.* (show racket) So remember- always give just a little more. It matters a lot.