Meeting Customers’ Expectations
How can you exceed customer expectations? First you need to know what their expectations are. When it comes to expecting certain performance and functionality from your product or service, you need to make sure you can deliver on the “speeds and feeds” that you sold your customers. However, there are more basic expectations that are not related to your product or service that need to be met, or even exceeded. More deals are lost because, in spite of how great your product may be, the customer’s basic needs were not met.
So, what are these customer expectations? What do customers really want? Here are 7 things that customers want.
1. To be respected — Don’t treat me like a fool. Don’t act like I’m stupid. Don’t discount what I have to say. I want to be treated with respect.
2. Fair price for a quality product — When it comes right down to it, doesn’t it make plain sense that customers should receive a quality product or service for a fair price? Of course it does. But why does this become so difficult at times. I paid good money for your product and it’s not performing the way you advertised it.
3. Fairness — I also want to be treated fairly. That doesn’t mean I’ll always get what I want. Sometimes what I want is not possible, feasible or reasonable.
4. Empathy — When I need help in purchasing an item or when I call a company because of a problem with their product, I want them to show a little empathy, or understanding. I want them to put themselves in my situation so they can understand my situation — walk in my shoes.
5. Information — I can’t make an intelligent decision unless I have the facts and information in order to do so.
6. Someone to understand my needs — This is a close kin to empathy. It’s a step further, though, since it means that I want someone to own my problem. If I ask a sales person for help, I don’t want to be dumped on someone else.
7. Someone I can trust — When you say you’ll get back to me, you’d better get back to me. When you say you’ll handle my request, it better be handled. When you say your product will do something, it better do it. Otherwise, I will lose trust in you. When you start building trust with your customers, then you are also building respect.
