What you hope for.
In the Victorian high country for the weekend, we ate lunch at an unobtrusive little cafe called Coral Lee. It had retro furniture and quirky decor (Those coffee cups from the 70's bring back memories). The food had special touches that made a baguette or tart interesting and the coffee and iced teas were very good. The proprietors were Sam and Leonie. Leonie did most of the cooking and Sam was front of house. Her personality was exuberant but genuine and welcoming. It matched the decor.
Lunch was followed by a lovely drive along the Ovens River valley, a wine tasting at a fine local winery and a walk. Back in town at 4.50pm, we felt like a cuppa.
It was Sunday afternoon and places were starting to close. We walked around town past three cafes with that "regional bus tour tea house" ambience and rejected them all, even though I am confident that their coffee contained caffeine. By the time we got to Coral Lee, it was after 5pm and we missed out completely.
Perhaps you are thinking, "If he wasn't such a snob, he could have had his coffee". If so, you are absolutely correct. But the moral of this story is not that I am a coffee snob. Rather, the moral is that, whilst my appetite told me it was coffee time, my spirit hoped for the total Coral Lee experience.
To my way of thinking, when it comes to coffee, there is a difference between getting what you pay for and what you hope for. Perhaps the same thing can be said of professional services.
What do your customers hope for?