If Necessity is the Mother of Invention Then Expectation is the Mother of Satisfaction.
This is blog I wrote about a year ago but I find it to be even more important today with the way social media has become so important to business, especially small business. Word of mouth marketing has taken a hyper leap in the past 18 months and now it’s even more important to manage our clients expectations and as a result, manage our WOM.
I hope you enjoy:
If necessity is the mother of invention then expectation is the mother of satisfaction.
I’ll say it again, if necessity is the mother of invention then expectation is the mother of satisfaction, and the success of my business is completely dependant upon how satisfied my client is with their end product.
How often have you gotten annoyed, frustrated, or even livid because a product or service wasn’t as advertised (the “as seen on tv” syndrome), or wasn’t provided by the promised time (“we’ll be there between 9am and 3pm” only to have that turn into tomorrow, or next week)?
We have paid little to no money for advertising because quite frankly we are a small business and the costs of traditional advertising (print, mail, television, radio) can often be prohibitive, so we must rely almost solely on word of mouth. We have a website, a presence on both Facebook and Twitter, and regular emailing campaigns, but these don’t take away from the fact that we depend greatly on word of mouth marketing. This means that our clients not only have to be satisfied with what we have done for them but they need to be so satisfied that they would suggest us to their colleagues.
Now, we have been in business for 10 years and I would love to say that we have been successful because we put out a better product than any one of our competitors and that is why our clients suggest us to others. My ego would like to believe that, but I am pretty sure that isn’t the case. Don’t get me wrong, I would tell you that our product is as good and in many cases superior to our competitors, but everyone thinks (or at least hopes) that about their product, or they shouldn’t be in business. I actually think it goes a step further. From a marketing standpoint (and from any other standpoint) satisfaction is based on expectation.
It’s pretty simple: We tell our clients what they can expect, when they can expect it, and how much it is going to cost. Then we deliver. We don’t overpromise and we NEVER under deliver. We’ve been known to routinely over deliver (adding a feature, completing the project early, etc.), to the delight of our clients, and that gives a great boost to the positive word of mouth advertising that we thrive on. When the clients’ expectations are managed well they are satisfied, and when they are satisfied they tell someone else about us and we get more business. And so the world goes ‘round and we’re all happy. Isn’t that the way it should be? 
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Filed Under: Business • Marketing • Social Media
