Do more, not less.

This isn’t a revelation. It’s just another way of saying underpromise and overdeliver. It always helps to give the customer a little more than what they think they paid for — like the manjapai when you buy clothes, or the free almond toppings with chocolate ice cream. This ‘little’ extra will feel like a lot more value.

For instance, recently, we had written a blog post that mentioned the marappacchi bommai. One of my writers had mentioned in the blog post that she had one. The client wrote to us asking, “can you share some pictures, perhaps of your marappacchi bommais?”

My writer responded earnestly that her bommais were in the attic, and ended it there. This answer isn’t wrong. The customer asked for something that she didn’t have handy. So, she told as much.

But good customer service knows that this is a dead-end response, however politely or earnestly you said it. So, I immediately found some stock images that the client can include in the article and sent her an email with it. Naturally, she was relieved that I didn’t put her through the work of finding the right images online.

The ‘pleasure of doing business’ that comes from this kind attitude will hold you in good stead for a long time to come.

Here are some ways in which I do it consistently:

• We always write 2-3 social media posts with every blog post we send. We sometimes even find stock images to go with them.

• While designing things, we give people a couple of options.

• I’ve said before, we focus on finishing satisfactorily. So, we don’t restrict the number of iterations something needs.

You could do this in so many other ways:

• Deliver ahead of deadline.

• If there is another bug / problem you discover, fix it voluntarily.

• If you can run a script to do something that the client is torturing a junior soul to do, automate it.

• If you can’t take up a project, refer someone.

Do more than what is expected of you.