Expectations

Let's talk about expectation, let's talk about you and me, let's talk about all the good things and the bad things that can be, let's talk about it[1]. Expectation lies at the heart of almost every interaction, and it can go wrong as much as it has the tendency to go right.

In mid-September I was asked to give a presentation at work, and I had been tempted to discuss managing expectations in terms of customer service. Customer service is one of those falsely negative phrases that can be used badly to make a point; if one wants to ignore customer service they will raise issues of cost, value, expenditure.

Customer service goes wrong if one approaches it with the view 'computer says no', or argue that customer service is only needed in shops. Customer service goes well when one explains their actions with transparency[2], when one listens to the end of the sentence, when one focuses on the other.

Across Leeds there are a number of shops where good customer service can be found. This isn't about the best price (lowest financial transaction usually leads to the lowest level of customer service), more about the care those organisations show to their users. Got a question, seeking a recommendation, ask and talk, it's easy.

My expectations are different from other service users. And that is the real issue, if one's expectation is to treat all customer the same or give them what they want the organisation will become unstuck. If one's expectation is to listen, give customers what they need, it is more likely to work.

Notes
1 - Let's talk about sex, Abe Simpson-style: "I first had sex in the April of 1925, when the autumnal colours were strong and Fall was known as Decline in reverence to Edward Gibbon, we would all go running about with our tongues out trying to catch snow flakes and wondering why we never propagated, though we all behaved properly..."
2 - One doesn't have to reveal the whole process or the magician's secret to explain an action that has happened.