Are You Under Promising and Over Delivering?

Have you ever heard the phrase, “under-promise and over-deliver”?

As a consumer, this is something that is super important, right? The company sets the expectations and you assume they’re going to hold themselves to them. 

Sounds really simple. 

But we all know that it doesn’t always happen that way. 

When it does - we tend to just forget because it’s what we expected. 

When it doesn’t - well, sometimes Karen comes out and you let everybody know. 

Two scenarios:

#1:

Your computer starts to act funny, so you call the local repair company to see what it could be. You set an appointment.  You go in at your scheduled time, pay the diagnostic fee, leave your precious computer in their hands and pray it’s just a super dead battery. The next day they alert you via email and text (bless) letting you know it is in fact just a battery. They have to order one and can install it once it’s in. 

Whew. Being without your computer sucks, but it’s not the hard drive. They order the battery and you receive another email and text letting you know the battery is in. You then ask the dreaded question…”do you know about how long it’ll take for installation”.  They respond, “2 - 3 days.” 

While this stinks - it is what it is. 

Then 3 hours later you get an email and a text that says, “hey we finished your computer and you can pick it up at your convenience.” You hop in your car, see your beauty sitting on the counter, pay your invoice, and you’re on your way. 

#2:

Your computer starts to act funny, so you call the local repair company to see what it could be. You leave a voicemail from a recorded “sorry we can’t get to the phone, leave a message.” You leave a message and go on about your day. The next afternoon you realize they haven’t called back, so you call again. They answer this time and have no clue you left a message. You tell them about your situation and they let you know to stop by. 

You pack up your computer and head that way. They check you in, you pay the diagnostics fee, and they send you on your way. Two days later you haven’t heard from them, so you call to see if there’s an update. “Oh, yeah our techs ran the diagnostics yesterday and it’s the battery….”

You interrupt the long awkward silence by asking what the next step is. Do they have them in-house, do they have to order it, and how long will it take. You know…normal info. 

“We have to order it and it’ll be about 2 days.” Sweet! 

Three days later (you don’t want to be that person) you give them another ring-a-ding to ask for an update. 

“Oh, the battery just came in so we’ll need 2 more days to install.”  You hold your tongue and try not to think about how wonderful it has been to be using your backup computer that is not exactly the most efficient.

A week later you haven’t heard a word, so you click your speed dial that they’re now on and they say “Oh, yeah it came in and it’s finished.” You drive up to the shop, pay, snag your computer (annoyed) and head home. 

Which one of the following scenarios is best? 

#1: over communication + finished 2 days early
#2: no communication + finished later than expected

Obviously #1. 

As business owners, it’s a lot to keep up with. Scheduling. Communication. Trusting shipping times. Having employees that are following your system. (And if you don’t have these for your business, that’s the strategy stuff I help with!)

But, we chose to be in business, so each and every one of these things is important. 

And because so many things can be out of our control (hello inventory, shipping, etc) the best thing you can do is over-communicate to your customer. In scenario 2 they could have called to update that the battery wasn’t going to arrive on time and that would have definitely helped ease the customer's annoyance. 

Lastly, for consumers. In this world of cancel culture, when you have an amazing experience with a local business please take 5 minutes to share about it! On social media, on Google, an email, whatever it is. This is so incredibly helpful and keeps them going…I promise!

***yes scenario #1 did happen last week and it really was magical. Thanks, Gravity!