You can do a good job but still miss the mark when it comes to customer expectations. Here are 9 ways to make sure you always do both!

Original image, Cathy Thorne, www.everydaypeoplcartoons.com

If you fail to manage customer expectations, you may find that while you believe your business performed well, your clients don’t agree.  Here are nine ways to align customer expectations with the outcomes they should expect when they do business with you.

If customers expect something more than, or outside of, the outcomes that your products and services actually produce, it is highly likely that some – or even most – of them will be dissatisfied with your business.  If dissatisfaction persists, it can quickly lead to customer frustration and defection, as well as negative word of mouth marketing. On the other hand, if you want to maximize customer satisfaction and generate positive word of mouth marketing for your business, you need to not only meet their expectations, but even exceed them.

Use these nine tactics to more effectively manage customer expectations and align them with the real benefits provided by your products or services, or the positive results they can experience by doing business with you.  In doing so, you create a scenario where your business can not only meet those expectations, but incorporate ways to exceed them, as well.

9 Ways to Make Sure You Always Live Up to Customer Expectations

1.  Educate prospective clients well – long before the sale.  Today’s consumer researches products and services online before they buy, and you should use your digital real estate to educate them about the results and outcomes they should expect when they do business with you.

2.  Don’t fast-track the buying cycle.  Whether your buyer is trying to skip over portions of the buying process or you are eager to get the sale, if you short cut the normal buying cycle or your own procedures, you increase the risk of disappointing your client due to unrealistic customer expectations.

3.  Actually review terms and conditions.  Agreeing to terms and conditions has become so easy in the digital age – all it takes is a check mark in a box. Whether your client checks that box or not, their post-sale dissatisfaction if products or services don’t give them the results they want will be just as real.

4.  Check in along the way.  Checking in along the way during the buying process or during the customer experience at your business can help you identify early warning signs that expectations may not be aligned correctly or where there may be problems in your own process.

5.  Don’t assume.  Don’t assume that clients know what will happen during their customer experience or that they know what to expect afterward.  Don’t assume that clients know how long a service visit might take or how long they might have to wait for items purchased or ordered to arrive.  If customers are beginning to ask questions or previous customers have expressed dissatisfaction with some part of their experience with your business, make sure that you communicate with customers on those topics.

6.  Ask clarifying questions.  Get clients to tell you – in their own words – about the problems they expect to solve (with your goods or services) as well as what they expect their results to be (with your goods and services), and resolve any discrepancies.

7.  Talk about what your products or services do – and talk about what they don’t do, too.  Customers can have misconceptions about the type and scope of benefits they can gain by patronizing your business or availing themselves of your products or services.  Clear up any common misconceptions customers may have before the sale by addressing the range and scope of benefits a product or service can provide.

8.  Ask clients what would constitute a successful outcome for them at the end of the customer experience. For instance, ask how they expect their lives (or an aspect of their lives) to be improved, or what problem they expect to be resolved if they use your products or services.

9.  Follow up after the sale most times the best feedback you will get from a customer is after they have had a chance to use or experience your product or service. Post sale follow up provides you the opportunity to resolve any issues, keep your product or service “top of mind”, and ask for potential referrals.

You might also like: 5 Ways to Make Sure You Aren’t Ignoring Your Customers via DBSquaredInc.com

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