Stop Trying to Exceed Customers’ Expectations

All businesses want to provide their customers with the best possible experience, and usually, the men and women on the front line of your organisation are given this important task.

From receptionists, customer service advisors and your sales force, they’re all accountable for providing great customer service. But when you continually strive to exceed your client’s expectations instead of meeting them, you can run into problems. 

Here are a few reasons why instead of focusing on exceeding customer expectations, you should instead try to meet them.

Consistency is key

Spending precious time on the phone or face to face with a customer, going over and above to satisfy their needs and leave a good impression, can often shift your focus away from other clients. Others may already be waiting in line or sitting in their offices waiting for your sales reps to arrive. 

So although you’ve delighted one customer, you’ve got five more angry ones who’ve been waiting to speak to someone for the last twenty minutes. Sometimes less is more, especially when customers need dealing with quickly. So, it’s important you strike the right balance between good customer service and speed and provide the same service consistently. 

The pressure on employees

Businesses are constantly striving for bigger and better, but they don’t often consider how this affects their employees. For example, many big organisations push customer service excellence by adding new processes to their current role yet still expect their staff to meet their customer handling targets. Essentially they’ve been given another task to carry out on each call or sales visit with no additional time created.

Not only can this heap pressure on your staff, but you’ll also start to notice that this additional workload is beginning to take its toll with increased staff absences, poor motivation and a lower employee retention rate. 

Do they appreciate it? 

When you go above and beyond for your customers, is your hard work and extra effort actually appreciated? Is it resulting in repeat business or increasing your bottom line?

If the answer is no, perhaps the additional time and resources you’re spending on exceeding customer expectations would be best utilised in other areas of the business so you can see a return on your investment.

Managing customer expectations is a balancing act. Too little effort, and you’ll shed customers at an alarming rate. Too much, and you’ll stretch staff resources with little return. To help you get the balance just right, speak to the team at HiThrive for expert advice on good quality and consistent customer service.