Alright, here’s the scoop. I recently took my premium brand sports car (brand is not relevant here) in for a major service, driving quite a distance to a place I thought would offer a higher level of service than my local main dealer spot. Now, I didn’t make that drive for just any reason—this place is the headquarters for the brand in the UK, and when you’re dealing with a premium brand, you expect a premium experience. You know, something that goes beyond just getting the basics right.

The service itself? It was fine—professional and up to standard. But for the extra effort (and money) I put in, I was expecting something more memorable, something that justified the longer drive and bigger bill.

Here’s where it gets interesting. As I was finishing up, the service advisor mentioned that I’d be getting a call in a few days asking for feedback. He told me that one of the questions would ask if the service met or exceeded my expectations. Then came the kicker: he said if I indicated that the service “met expectations,” it would count as a negative score for them.

Wait, what?

Why This Approach Misses the Mark

Let’s break this down. Feedback is supposed to be honest, and untainted right? The minute you start nudging customers to answer a certain way, you’re not getting real feedback—you’re getting skewed data that makes your numbers look good on paper but doesn’t actually help you improve.

Meeting expectations isn’t a bad thing—it means you’re doing what’s expected. But if you want to exceed expectations, you do actually have to go above and beyond. Following me?

This got me thinking.

What are the baseline expectations when you’re dealing with a premium brand? In my case, I was expecting a higher level of care that justified the extra time and money I was investing.

Where They Could’ve Exceeded Expectations

Here’s a real-world example from my visit. It was an absolutely scorching day, and the service advisor knew I needed to catch a train back home from a station that’s a good 25-minute walk from the service center. Now, the other location I usually go to offers a free shuttle service to the local station, which is closer. So, I figured this place, being the main hub for a high luxury brand, would have something even better, right?

Nope. I ended up walking to the station in the blazing heat. To be fair, there’s no way they could’ve known the tracks were blocked when I got there, forcing me to take an Uber to another station just to catch a train. But here’s the thing—if they’d simply offered me a ride to the station, I wouldn’t have had to roast in the heat on that long walk. And while I wouldn’t expect them to drive me all the way to the other station, imagine the impact if they had!

That small gesture would’ve taken my experience from “met expectations” to “exceeded expectations” and left me raving about their service. It’s these little touches that make a huge difference in how customers feel about their experience, especially when they’re dealing with a luxury brand where the bar is set high.

How to Use Feedback to Really Improve

So, what’s the takeaway here? If you’re in business, especially in the premium or luxury space, you should be looking at feedback as a tool for continuous improvement, not just a metric to game. Here are a few tips:

Ask the Right Questions: Don’t just focus on numbers. Include open-ended questions that let customers share what really stood out or what could’ve been better. This gives you real insights.

Take All Feedback Seriously: If a lot of your customers say you “met expectations,” don’t see that as a failure. Instead, ask yourself how you can elevate your service to surprise and delight them.

Ensure Feedback is Genuine: Consider adding a question in your survey like, “Did anyone at the service center explain how the scoring system works?” This will help you catch any attempts to influence the feedback.

Focus on the Extra Mile: Sometimes it’s the small, thoughtful gestures that turn a good service experience into a great one. Be proactive in looking for opportunities to go above and beyond.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, customer feedback is your roadmap to improvement. But it’s only useful if it’s genuine and taken seriously. By really understanding your customers’ baseline expectations and making the effort to exceed them, you can turn a standard service into something exceptional. And that’s what keeps customers coming back—and telling everyone they know about you.

So, take the feedback, encourage your customers to tell you you met expectations if you met expectations, so that you can know that you need to do more to exceed them.
Otherwise you're doing the same thing as telling your child they did great at their homework, when they got a score that was in the middle of the pack.

Have you got a feedback system in place? Do you know what a 'met expectations' experience looks like for your customers so that you can guide your service personnel (and yourself) on where they can exercise discretion to have your customers shout from the rooftops about your service?

Would love to hear your thoughts on this....

Also, I've put together an additional sheet of suggestions of what a 'met expectations' service looks like for me at least, and a stack of ideas that would be considered 'exceeding expectations'.
​Let me know if you want it.