Deborah Chaddock Brown in a recent blog post gave 2 simple but powerful examples of customer expectations and customer service.
This post made me think of two words can damage customer relationships – I Assume.
This is especially so when it comes to customer service and managing the expectations of your customers. If you have not taken the time to really understand you customers then you are left with assuming you know what they expect.
For example if you have ever been asked to quote on a job do you tell the customer when they will receive the quote or do you leave it up in the air by saying………I will get back to you with the quote soon. For your customer this may mean the next day, you however may assume they understand soon to be in five days.
Here are a few tips to help manage your customer’s expectations:
- Be specific about your customer service elements so the customer knows what to expect.
- Find out what expectations your customers have so you do not have to guess or assume.
- Check from time to time that the customer’s expectations are still being met or exceeded.
- If you have employees make sure everyone knows what the customer service standards are.
- Be practical as something will go wrong at some time. You can’t be perfect.
- Be careful if you always over deliver as this will be your customer’s new service standard.
- Make sure you compare your business with your competitors. Get someone to test their customer service.
Managing customer expectations is not always easy. Knowing your customers well and what is important to them can stop you going down the assumption path and disappointing them.
How do you manage your customer’s expectations?
Susan,
Thanks for referencing my post – great additions here on your post. We just can’t over communicate. The more we touch base, ask questions, check our customer’s temperature – the better equipped we’ll be to effectively meet – EXCEED their expectations.
Deborah
Deborah,
You make good points and I think we can sometimes forget that very simple actions like you mentioned are very easy to do. Also these actions with current customers do not take a lot of time or money to be effective versus the time and money needed to attract new customers.
Are You Managing Your Customers’ Expectations?…
If you have not taken the time to really understand you customers then you are left with assuming you know what they expect. For example if you have ever been asked to quote on a job do you tell the customer when they will receive the quote or do you l…
Hi Susan,
This is another important topic!
As a North American living in various European countries, I have often noticed how my customer service expectations are so different to those around me. North America customer service is generally considered higher than most of the countries I have worked in over here. What I found interesting was implementing “extra” customer service in a culture where less is expected.
But there are also totally different expectations and cultural differences mean that what is perceived as good in one country is not necessarily good in another and can even be negative.
Knowing what your customers expect is so important.
Cindy,
You bring up an important aspect we often forget. As more of us conduct business with customers from different countries and cultures, being alert to the different expectations is essential.
Thank you, Susan, for posting a relevant article that most business players these days seem to forget.
In my own viewpoint, I think that providing a specific answer to your client is the key to avoid having a misunderstanding. However, “specific” does not mean “hurried.”
Having a smartly thought-out answer involves calculating the possibility of committing errors and other unexpected factors that may be encountered along the way.
You make a very good point about not being hurried. Sometimes I think we want to please so we rush to provide answers.
In your experience why do you think some business players forgetthese days?