On this historic day of the inauguration of the 44^th president of the United States, it is insightful to reflect on how we treat elected officials—and the lessons for how we treat customers. Americans tend to expect too much from our presidents, and when presidential expectations are set too high, presidencies are doomed to failure.

 

Yale economist Ray Fair’s voting model finds that many people base their votes on the growth of the economy in the first three quarters of an election year. Most economists would say that the president has a very limited ability to influence the growth rate. Justin Wolfers, an economist at the Wharton School, has found that state voters reward or punish their governors based on economic factors clearly beyond their control. For example, the governors of oil-producing states have no ability to control the global price of oil, but when prices rise, these governors are more likely to be re-elected. When oil prices fall, they are more likely to get the boot.¹

 

Voters are acting like capricious employers punishing their employees for random events. Do we do any less with customers? Upon gaining a new account, a supplier tends to believe that the customer will reward them with an ever-growing volume and value of business. Alternate sources will be supplanted by the new supplier’s product, regardless of demonstrated value. And nothing can get in the way of a long-standing and mutually profitable (read “we should make more money than they do”) relationship.

 

But, just as with elected officials, when customer expectations are set too high, we doom the customer-supplier relationship to failure. When a customer reduces their level of business with a supplier because the price is too high, and repeated requests to lower the price have gone unanswered, why are we surprised? When defective product is shipped, why are we surprised when a truckload of returned merchandise arrives at the dock? And when we make no contact with the customer or send a price increase letter with a misspelled addressee, why are we surprised when the same customer fails to reorder?

 

Simultaneous to the new account coming on board, the supplier should immediately reinforce processes to ensure that there are clear and accessible channels for feedback. Supplier employees with direct customer contact should know the basics of the customer’s business—what they produce, how they make money, and—importantly—how the supplier’s product makes the customer better. Problem resolution mechanisms should be well understood by both parties so that no problem is allowed to spiral out of control. And customer satisfaction should be closely monitored so that the new customer has the best chance at achieving the lofty expectations we set for them.

 

 

¹ Lower (and More Realistic) Presidential Expectations, Edward L. Glaeser, The New York Times, 1/20/09

1 comment(s) so far...

Re: What Do We Expect from Customers? Too often companies rely on customer feedback that comes through their sales force, and is often filtered and or spun in a way that benefits the salesperson, not the customer. If you want to hear the true voice of the customer you must ask the customer directly, and not rely on information provided by internal employees. By Sandi Turner on   5/21/2009 9:49 AM

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