SHOW & CHAPTER 11: DEALING WITH THE PROMISE GAP - WILLIAM EASTMAN

The most critical issue in customer service is the initial delivery of what the customer purchased - does it perform as sold? How user friendly is it? Was it delivered on time? Is the value worth the price? Many times in the sales process, marketing and sales overstate results gained from purchasing, delivery date, or features. This creates a situation where the customer will feel deceived or cheated when the product or service is delivered; there is usually no reasonable recovery that will hold this account or recovery that is affordable. ​

Show Objective
Given a contracting economy with diminishing business opportunities and inflation devaluing the currency, start with holding your best accounts and determine the gap between what you promised and what was delivered.

​EPISODE 49: Summary
The process starts with marketing and advertising, what is promised in terms of the results you can expect, how easy the product or service is to use, and what is like doing business with your company. Next, what happens after the customer raises their hand and the sales process starts? Are the promises made validated, dashed, or expanded? Once the product or service is delivered, does the result of the entire process align with what the customer was led to believe?

Today's show starts with a quick review of the two types of quality that are present in every product or service: Process and Delivered.

Process Quality is how you build the solution promised during sales. It is creatiing what was promised and begins in the marketing & sales process, through installing a solution, and the service follow-up; it is an alternative way for defining customer service.

Delivered Quality is the customers experience using or consuming the product / service delivered and whether it meets the promises made - does it do what you promised it would do and how user-friendly is it?

EPISODE 50: The 5 Service Gaps
Back in the 1990's when we developed the best selling book "Raving Fans" and the corresponding consulting process, the reserach  focused on the gaps between what was promised  vs. delivered. That led to us to looking at the underlying reasons for the Cusotmer Expereince Gap and the development of 5 Gaps concept. One is experienced by the customer and is the result of 4 other causes. The 4 causes are dealt with in other tracks in this series on Receession Proofing Your Business.

Topics:

• Gap 5: Customer Experience
• Gap 4: Creating Expectations
• Gap 3: Work Performance
• Gap 2: Leadership & Management
• Gap 1: Insufficient Customer Knowledge

EPISODE 51: Gap 5 - Customer Experience
There are five elements of Gap 5 that determine how the customer perceives the experience. In this series we combined the 5 into 3 - Promise, Recovery, and Personnel.

Topics:

• 5.1 Reliability (Failure to Deliver on Promise)
• 5.2 Responsiveness (Recovery Methods)
• 5.3 Assurance (Competent and Empowered Personnel)
• 5.3 Empathy (Sincerity – Value Their Business)
• Tangibles (Features – Specific of Your Solution)

EPISODE 52: GAP 5.1 and the 3 Expectations
The 3 expectations were covered in the Summary. The first is the most obvious - you promised a set of results from using the product or service.  The are a rangoe of outcomes from you hit the markt to alomost to you were lying. This is a reflection of what was sold vs what was made. If you have to emblish results to make a sale - fix what you make. If you are close to truth in the marketing and sales process then you have an internal quality issue - failure to produce what was promised. 

The third issue, which is soly Process Quality, is reflection of what it is like doing business with you. How does the customer feel about the overall experience?

Topics:​

• Creating accurate expectations with potential customers in the marketing & sales process
• Post sale alignment meeting to start with accurate expectations
• The product or service is delivered on time, on budget, and with the features promised

Next Show/Chapter 15: Recovery Gap

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