In my humble opinion and based on close to 40 years business ownership, we should ALWAYS over deliver. It is because I always did this that I managed to keep my clients and always had such a good relationship with them. It was never a big deal to me. It might have meant getting their Advertising campaign up a week early, getting a bit of credit from a supplier due to an issue with a live campaign and passing it on to the client. Whatever it was, I always gave the client more value than they had actually paid for.
If your focus is on Over delivering, you will never go far wrong. If your focus is on Over promising, then you leave yourself wide open for something going wrong as over promising is sometimes out of your control. Your focus always needs to be on your customers and never on yourself. Everything needs to be on the customer experience. If you don’t give them a great experience, they will be off looking for another supplier.
As the quote says, in order to build trust keep the promises you make. Don’t over promise. Trust is a big thing. It can take years to build and seconds to lose.
We all need to do the right thing. If we say we are going to do something we need to do it. It is called responsibility. We need to accept total responsibility for our own actions, and not blame someone else. If something happens to go wrong with the customer experience – as it sometimes will – never back away from it. Do not ignore it. Deal with it head on, and let the customer know at the earliest opportunity. Your relationship will be stronger if you deal with problems quickly and effectively. Never be frightened to deal with problems – they are part of life.
As consumers we are always looking for a great customer experience. If we don’t get it, we move on to someone else. I am always saying to the small business community that we need to check the credentials of those we outsource to. We need suppliers who add value to our business. We need suppliers who do what they say they are going to do – and more. If this is the way we feel, then why should our customers feel any different. They employed our services because they wanted a great customer experience. It is our responsibility to make sure we offer this to them as we may not get a second chance. Get it right the first time.
Some people say that if you under promise, you are letting the customer know that you offer an inferior service, but it’s not like you are going to go round and tell the customer this no more than you will tell them you will over deliver. If you promise you do something you just do it, and you always offer a great experience to the customer. If you happen to be able to over deliver,then that is a great service. You are always going to do what you say you are going to do and you are always going to offer a great service but the day you over promise and don’t deliver is the day you have a problem.
To understand how to build a business you can be proud of, drop an email to richard@lionheartmanagement.co.uk or connect with me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardlionheartknight/
This article was first published on LinkedIn by Richard Knight on 24/08/2021