How many of
you take the time to figure out what a potential customer would anticipate if he
hired your company? Have you taken the time to consider what the customer comes
in expecting?
This past
spring, I went to my high school reunion.
It was better than I expected, and I actually had a great time seeing
old classmates and trying to catch up.
Like many reunions, we had a photographer who took a class photograph
and was selling us copies for $20 apiece.
I thought it was a little pricey, but I bought one.
What was my
expectation? Well, I expected a clear glossy
photograph of all of us. I actually didn’t
put any thought into it when I paid for it at the reunion, but for things like
this, I did have an expectation because I had bought photos in this manner
before.
What did I
get? I got a photograph on 8.5 X 11
sheet of paper – matte finished. It was
obviously printed on an ink jet printer.
It wasn’t centered and in fact a little crooked. Many of my classmates had an orange cast, and
it was a little dark.
I was
deeply disappointed and felt like I had been ripped off. Correction:
I had been ripped off. This
photographer didn’t meet my expectations, and I won’t be recommending her in
the future. I spoke with a few of my
classmates, including one of the organizers, and they felt the same way. They certainly won’t recommend her to anyone
either.
What did
her product do for her business? It did
worse than absolutely nothing. She
actually damaged her business. There are
some 30 people who probably feel as I do about that photograph, and they won’t
be recommending her to anyone. In fact,
they may even spread the word not to use her services.
At some
point in that small community, her business will dry up because she isn’t
giving people what they expect when they purchase a photograph from her. Sure she saved a couple of dollars per
photograph, but she has damaged her reputation by being penny-wise and pound-foolish.
So when you
offer a product or service, take time to think like a customer and ask yourself
if you were purchasing that exact same thing, what would you expect as a
customer, and that is exactly what you should deliver.
