Exceeding Expectations

There’s a great deal of talk in customer service circles around striving to exceed customer’s expectations. In my opinion, it’s ill-advised. 

In 40 years of working with organizations, large and small, none asked us to exceed their expectations. In an industry filled with over-promise, under-deliver competitors, our clients simply want us to make specific promises and keep them. 

If we were better than they expected, that’s okay, but they were more than happy when they got the outcomes we promised. 

In a true collaboration, it’s important that each party bring a mutual commitment to the project. 

In one instance, I suggested to our biggest customer that we reduce a once-a-week 12-week course down to 8 weeks, saving them over $120,000 in billable time. 

The CEO told me that would be fine, but he emphatically said that he expected no reduction in outcomes. He told me, “Dave, don’t make it shorter if the results are not the same.” 

We did make the course shorter, and he was happy with the outcomes, but he was not looking for a “quick fix.” 

A colleague asked me whether we reduced the fees since the course was shorter. “Of course not,” I replied. “We created more value, not less. Besides, I always bill for outcomes, not time. We promise results and if it takes longer, it costs us more, not the client.”

A Business Mindset

This is about a business mindset. Are you about providing real value to clients, or about increasing your fees and billable hours? 

Focus on uncovering what your clients genuinely value and less on lowering prices. However, be careful of making “value-added” promises. Clients typically interpret this as justifying larger fees, and they are often right. 

When you connect with what your clients truly value and meet your promised outcomes, that is worth a premium to genuine clients. If they focus on cheaper prices, your relationship is weak. 

Of course, they expect you to exercise integrity and provide competitive rates, but I often tell prospective clients, “We’re not the cheapest.” Most reply, “I wouldn’t expect it.” 

Consider this: if your expectations of us are low, and we exceed them, is that better than if your expectations are high and we meet them? 

I want our clients to know what to expect from us and have realistic, high expectations. Then I can make specific outcome promises and keep them. 

Lesson Learned

On one memorable occasion, we exceeded a client’s expectations by saving them over $1 million when they implemented a course participant’s money-saving project. 

Our president called their senior vice-president with the news. “That’s nice,” he told her. But we got no further business from them. 

At first, we felt slighted, but eventually realized what happened. We simply dealt with his participant in the training. The vice-president did not specifically ask for that outcome—it happened without us having a conversation about his expectations. 

Lesson learned! It is important that we dialogue with our clients, the ones who pay the bills, and establish clear objectives together and achieve them collaboratively. 

Many of our clients experience similar scenarios. Once they collaborate with their customers in the early stages of a project and clearly establish desired outcomes, most clients are happy with the outcomes they clearly said they wanted. They are not interested in anyone exceeding their expectations. 

Unfortunately, some organizations still demand “exceeding” expectations rather than providing what their clients truly want—organizations that promise specific, measurable outcomes and keep their promises. 

As one of our clients told us, “Successful people are the few who focus in and follow through.”