#5 Unrealistic Expectations

Customers are very creative when it comes to creating Expectations. If you give them reasons to believe something you cannot deliver, you are in trouble. Nowadays, cCustomer expectations are off the roof. They sometimes have unrealistic demands that cannot be delivered and when their needs are not met, they get upset and sometimesare angry. The key to this is to understand when a need is being unrealistic and admitting that their need would not be met before agreeing. If a customer wants something done the next day and it usually takes a week toa complete,. Do do not agree to finish it if you are unsure you can do it on time. Instead, you can explain to the customer, that if they want it to be done properly, they have to wait a week. However, you can also say that you will try your best to get it done as soondone as possible and escalate the process. This will make the cCustomer feel important because you are making an exception for them. Customers usually understand if you give them a clear understanding and demonstrate honesty, politeness, and professionalism and a true interest on helping them to get what they believe they deserve.

However, if you agree to an unrealistic expectation, that will not be met, this can lead to some serious issues. The customer would be even angrier if a company agrees to meet their expectations, but failed to do so. This gives the customer a reason to be mad because they trusted the company to keep their word. This is essentially a promise made that may make the cCustomer lose their trust and loyalty with thea company. Not to mention the practical problems that can arise. Most Customers have specific requirements because they depend on those requirements for something else. If you create an expectation and do not deliver, the Customer becomes frustrated with the non-delivery itself, but can become even angrier if such lack of performance impacted other aspects of their lives. The consequential damages caused can potentially give rise to lawsuits.

You have to be certain that your Sales team is properly trained and fully understands the capabilities of your products, services and internal processes, otherwise, the Sales process can become an unrealistic expectations factory. A lot of the expectations created is because of the extreme interest on getting the sale done. Making promises that you believe your company can do, but not knowing for a fact, can become a major deal breaker down the road. The good sales persons are the ones that sell what they know they can deliver, because this way they are protecting the next sale.

As many expectations are unrealistic, companies have to put themselves in their cCustomer’s shoes. Customers do not have the inside knowledge that the company does, they just know how to express what they need. It is the role of the company to help guide and understand the steps and processes to complete a task to help them understand why their expectation is unrealistic. Although unrealistic expectations are deemed as negative, it can also be positive as when being handled properly can improve relationships with customers.

Never forget that Customers are not satisfied if you deliver what you promised. They are satisfied when you deliver what they expected, reason why it is so important to properly manage the Customers expectations.