Do you feel like your customers often ask for more than what your product or service on itself can offer? And do you tend to overpromise, but then end up with customers only being left in doubt or not fully satisfied? The following will show you why.
A Lexus to sail with
Imagine a customer enters a car dealership and tells the salesman he wants a car. The car needs to have five seats, with leather upholstery. Of course the dealer has models that fit these requirements. Then the customer suddenly mentions that he also likes to sail, and wonders whether the car dealer has a car that can also sail. The car dealer tells the customer: ‘We can arrange that for you. We can hammer a hull around the car and put a sail on top.’ Logically, this will make the customer doubt the quality of this car and its sailing capabilities.
“What about the quality of the car?”
This is what often happens in real life situations. Customers will ask for more than a business can offer. Nevertheless, salesmen will try to close a deal by promising to satisfy these demands. The end result will be a car that can sail. However, it will never be as good as the customer had bought both a car and a boat separately. The dealer can only offer him a high quality car. He should not
offer a product that is a high quality car and a high quality boat. If the dealer had told the customer this, it would have been better for both parties.
Limited catalogue
Protecting your customers is part of relationship management. Customers will ask you for more, but will end up happier with you offering the adequate. Being honest about what demands your product can and cannot satisfy, will result in a customer that feels taken seriously and cared about. Customers will have the right expectations of your product. Because you can live up to these expectations, this will lead to increased customer satisfaction. Therefore, be honest and do not overcompensate on your business!