James Tanner

legacy-wiki

Tech support

April 10, 2012

Recovered from the older tannerjc.net wiki snapshot dated January 23, 2016.

psych

  • customer expectations

http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0077107950/577210/04ch03.pdf

  • Sources of desired service expectations

  • personal needs -physical, social, psychological and functional.

  • philosophies about service

  • Lasting service intensifiers - individual, stable factors that lead the customer to a heightened sensitivity to service.

  • derived service expectations, which occur when customer expectations are driven by another person or group of people

  • individual expectations are intensified because they represent and must answer to other parties who will receive the service.

  • Business-to-business customers may also derive their expectations from their managers and supervisors.

  • The head of an information technology department in an insurance company, who is the business customer of a large computer company, has expectations based on those of the insurance customers he or she serves: when the computer equipment is down, his or her customers complain. The need to keep the system up and running is not just his or her own expectation but is derived from the pressure of customers.

  • personal service philosophy – the customer’s underlying generic attitude about the meaning of service and the proper conduct of service providers.

  • Perceived service alternatives are other providers from whom the customer can obtain service. If customers have multiple service providers to choose from, or if they can provide the service for themselves (such as lawn care or personal grooming), their levels of adequate service are higher than those of customers who believe it is not possible to get better service elsewhere.

  • Personal service philosophies and derived service expectations elevate the level of desired service.

  • Sources of adequate service expectations

  • customers’ expectations are partly shaped by how well they believe they are performing their own roles in service delivery

  • Sources of both desired and predicted service expectations

  • companies and the personnel who represent them often deliberately over-promise to obtain business or inadvertently over-promise by stating their best estimates about delivery of a service in the future.

  • the higher the price and the more impressive the tangibles, the more a customer will expect from the service

  • The importance of word-of-mouth communication in shaping expectations of service is well documented.

  • What does a services marketer do if customer expectations are ‘unrealistic’

  • Arguably the worst thing a company can do is show a strong interest in understanding what customers expect and then never act on the information.

  • At a minimum, a company should acknowledge to customers that it has received and heard their input and that it will expend effort trying to address their issues.

  • An alternative and appropriate response would be to let customers know the reasons that desired service is not being provided at the present time and describe the efforts planned to address them.

  • Giving customers progress updates as service is improved to address their needs and desires is sensible because it allows the company to get credit for incremental efforts to improve service.

  • First, if the salesperson knows that no competitor can meet an inflated sales promise in an industry, he or she could point that fact out to the customer, thereby refuting the promise made by competitive salespeople.

  • The second option is for the provider to follow a sale with a ‘reality check’ about service delivery.

  • Delight

  • Recent research indicates that delighting customers does in fact raise expectations and make it more difficult for a company to satisfy customers in the future

http://cornerworld.com/preventing-unrealistic-expectations/

blockquote we all need to be aware that getting caught up in the moment and reacting with special treatment can set a dangerous precedent that in the end can cost you money, customers and peace of mind. /blockquote blockquote If the customer is familiar with the competitor’s product, and you are comparing your product to their’s, they are going to have the expectation that the user experience is going to be the same—how it works, how you support it, how you price.

It is imperative that if you are going to compare yourself with a rival product, you consider in advance the degree to which you want to be associated with their way of doing business. Before engaging in comparisons, determine what assumptions are going to be made about your product as a result of aligning yourself with a competitor. Then, highlight those key distinctions at the outset to head off any misperceptions about your product. /blockquote

http://saleschallenger.exbdblogs.com/2012/01/03/stop-highlighting-unrealistic-customer-expectations/

blockquote Attempting to exceed customer expectations is a losing battle. You’ll unnecessarily spend resources trying to delight your customers, when research shows that doing so has only a marginal impact on customer loyalty. /blockquote blockquote To avoid overpromising and under delivering on relationship benefits, consider implementing a joint expectation-setting and review process that involves the customer and helps you to better understand (and meet) their expectations /blockquote

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