Managing Expectations - Delivering Excellence

We have all experienced the great feeling that comes with delivering superior service. And as customers, we know immediately what constitutes good and bad service. Its like magic when things go smoothly and you get a giddy feeling when perfection reigns.  

The premise for business then, is to deliver service at some specific level of expectation. Perhaps the delivery is not always perfect or problem free, and perhaps it shouldn't be. Attaining absolute perfection means there is no room for improvement, and that quickly leads to complacency and ultimate failure. That, however, does not mean we should not strive towards delivering superior service.

Perhaps the secret is that we, as providers of organizational services, should spend more time managing expectations and ensuring that we deliver excellence to those expectations. 

A couple of weeks ago, I was told by my dog's vet that the dog needed rather urgent surgery to remove a dead tooth and subsequent treatment of an underlying abscess. The message I received was one of significant urgency; my dog needed surgery to remove the tooth and failure to seek treatment may well have serious and significant ramifications on the dog's life and health. 

Based on the message, my expectation was that the procedure would significantly improve the quality of my dog's life. Surprised was I when I picked the dog up! He did not need a tooth extraction, nor was there any sign of an abscess. What was delivered to me was a happy, tail-wagging dog with incredible clean teeth at the cost of a surgical procedure.

The message I had taken with me from the vet did, in the final analysis, not align with the expectations I had formed based on the original message. There was a failure to deliver to what I had perceived to be the correct message. Because the wrong message was delivered, incorrect expectations had to be managed after the fact. For me, the outcome will likely be searching for a new vet because I really don't like feeling that I have been taken advantage of. For the vet, failing to correctly delivering a message that correctly managed my expectations will be the loss of a customer.

As providers of services to our customers, we need to always ensure that the message is the correct one. Our customers should rightly expect us, as far as possible, to deliver to their expectations based on the message we provide them. We are in charge of the message and indeed the expectations themselves. Providing a basis for expectations means delivering excellence. Say what you mean, reiterate what you say to ensure that there are no mis-communications, and deliver to your message to the best of your ability.

Managing expectations is indeed delivering excellence. Agree?