Meeting Customer Expectations -- or Not

The customer is always right.

If you are a customer yourself (and this includes every one of you), you probably agree with this statement most of the time.  You’re exchanging your hard-earned cash for products and services from which you expect certain levels of satisfaction.  If you become unsatisfied, it’s up to the vendor to set things right.

If you are in customer service, however, you probably know that this isn’t true all of the time.  In fact, sometimes the customer is just downright wrong.  Yet, since your business depends on your customers, it’s still your job to set things right.  This isn’t always easy, especially when your customer becomes difficult.

Difficult customers represent just a small portion of the customers you deal with on a day-to-day basis, yet these few can profoundly affect the way you feel about your job and the way you deal with your next customer.  However, if you know how to manage your customers’ emotions successfully, you can prevent an unsatisfied customer from turning into an angry customer.  This begins with understanding what it is that your customers really want.

Generally speaking, customers have two sets of expectations – one positive, the other negative.  Positive expectations center around the idea that you care about them and that you can help them.  They believe that you have what they need and that what they purchase will be reliable.  Since they know their business is valuable to you, they expect to be treated fairly and professionally in exchange.  Customers become unsatisfied when their positive expectations are unmet.

Negative expectations center around the idea that you are going to take advantage of them.  They believe that they are unimportant to you personally and that you are only interested in making a profit from your overpriced goods.  If they run into problems, they expect you to be reluctant to help and to receive a hassle before you listen to them.  Since they believe you are unskilled, you probably don’t have the authority to deal with them in the first place.  Customers become unsatisfied when their negative expectations are met.

In any case, if customers become unsatisfied, you can deal with it.  It happens.  This is why we have customer service departments in the first place.  Turning customers back around before they get angry, however, is your job and this begins with knowing how to meet (or not to meet) the expectations that they have.