“Check on your customers every 10 minutes or so,” instructs the typical restaurant manager. And Deming turns in his grave again because the manager’s objective is arbirtrary.  It’s not based on the capabilities of a process or the needs of the customer. But wait—there’s a new service quality strategy emerging under the grey skies of Seattle.

To begin, let’s use the right words. Instead of just talking about “exceeding expectations” or “customer satisfaction,” try including these in your customer vernacular: Impress. Surprise. Delight. Enchant. Bewitch. And my favorite… dazzle.

For example, instead of asking the product packaging team: “How can we exceed our customers’ expectations?”

Editor’s note: This is the fourth of a four-part video interview with Juran Institute’s CEO Joseph DeFeo, and hosted by Quality Digest’s CEO, Jeff Dewar. View part one here, part two here, and part three here.

Editor’s note: This is the second of a four-part video interview with Juran Institute’s CEO, Joseph DeFeo, and hosted by Quality Digest’s CEO, Jeff Dewar. View part one here.

In this part of my video interview with Juran Institute president and executive coach, Joseph De Feo, we discussed where the quality profession is going. His answers caught me completely by surprise.