During a service evaluation, a client takes into account five factors, of which the promise fulfillment is the most important.
Some foreign researchers call compliance 'reliability' because it is the result of customer perception. Furthermore, our research points to the fulfillment of promises as the cause of much or little reliability in a company.
If a company fulfills all the sales or service promises they establish, the client can trust the company for any future need, with the certainty that they will not waste time or money. Keeping promises builds customer confidence and enables you to optimize your time, which is the most valuable asset of all today, and no one has time for complaints and waiting.
A defaulted company damages the time of its customers, causing discomfort that can lead to buying with the competition. But the damage is not only for external clients, there is also damage within the company, unfortunately the internal client cannot change suppliers, so the employment relationship is seriously affected.
For the end customer, a trusted provider means getting what you pay for without wasting your time, and for the middle customer, it means doing more business with end customers. Experience shows us that distributors or wholesalers lose important sales opportunities due to lack of compliance on the part of the supplier.
Concepts such as just in time and 'zero inventories' applied in the automotive industry come from the reliability factor. In the case of automotive companies, they would not run the risk of running out of raw material inventories if they did not have reliable suppliers.
The wrong interpretation
The two main causes of business default are misinterpretation of customer wishes and the wrong offering of promises. In the first case, companies do not see or do not want to see how important compliance is to the customer. It can happen, even if it is not important or it is important but it is not measured or it is measured wrongly.
For many entrepreneurs, meeting customer commitments is still not a priority. Instead, they consider that, from the customer's point of view, the service attitude (courtesy, kindness, etc.), and the tangible ones (that which is evident in the place of care) or empathy are more important.
This misinterpretation is understandable, because when we as consumers receive high-quality service, what we almost always remember is the smile or attitude of the employee, or the company's focus on the customer. The examples that we read in magazines and books on excellence in service mention that personalized attention, an additional service or making a decision in favor of the client, is the main protagonist.
However, no employee can spend time recovering clients, being kind to them and even anticipating their needs if the company they work for frequently fails to fulfill their commitments, having to spend almost all of their time serving angry clients (which in state require much more time) and to correct or at least try the unpleasant consequences that it generated have no time or capacity and, often, neither humor for anything else.
Can a hotel receptionist anticipate a customer's need if there is not even a reliable reservation system? With customers complaining about the breach, asking to speak to the manager and requesting immediately! the delivery of your room, the receptionist will not be able to do anything for this or other clients.
It is easy to explain, if we compare the service with a tangible one (eg, a house, its finishes, the floor, the painting, the furniture, etc.) and they correspond to the attitude of service and empathy; However, what we do not see must be taken into account (a strong foundation necessary for the duration of the property, eg), but when it fails, everything can collapse and not even the most luxurious finishes will be able to stop them.
So it is with the service what looks like the finishes, what we all notice when we are customers; but compliance is the foundation and the rest does not guarantee that the customer will return and, in some cases, even customers will consider it a mockery.
The promises that companies offer customers called direct promises underpin their expectations.
Sometimes executives consider meeting customer expectations to be important, but they do not measure their performance in that area, as they consider that they are well positioned despite the customer saying otherwise. It is common to find that employers quantify their compliance based on the number of reports or complaints received, which does not allow the necessary improvements to be made in this area, since many customers do not complain and, on occasions, the employer does not consider them credible. the complaints. Unfortunately, as the quality gurus say: If it is not measured, it cannot be improved
The last problem we have found in terms of meeting commitments is their incorrect measurement. This problem originates from the measurement carried out based on parameters that the company establishes without considering the customer's vision, for whom compliance is to develop and deliver the promised service in an appropriate and timely manner, so reaching only one of the two variables means default.
Would it be the same as a customer to receive your order on the agreed but incomplete day? Or receive the entire order a couple of days later, or perhaps receive it on the agreed day, but with quality defects?
If we are only measuring one of the two variables that the client includes in his opinion of non-compliance, then the measurement is not adequate to know if satisfaction is achieved. The main measurements we have found are:
- The day of the agreed delivery is measured, but it is not considered non-compliance if the order arrives incomplete. There are companies that due to punctuality, do not supply even 75% of what is requested by the client. The day of delivery is measured, but not the agreed time. For the customer who receives a service, it is not enough that it is carried out, time is an important part of the promise, the agreed day and time and the complete delivery of what is requested (or necessary) are measured, but the causes are not classified. of non-compliance.
By measuring the variables that make up the timely and correct delivery by the company, the inconvenience of customers will be better understood and, in this way, compliance and satisfaction can be increased.
Various ways to promise
Conversations with clients show that their expectations for service are fundamentally based on the promises made by companies, and we have found that the way promises are made hinder their fulfillment.
The promises that companies offer customers called direct promises underpin their expectations. However, sometimes companies do not make promises and customers set their expectations based on previous considerations or experiences, and this leads to noncompliance on almost all occasions.
We have identified three types of indirect promises that should be avoided.
? Ambiguous promises. Those that are not established with the client, but that the latter considers agreed upon when a confirmation or negotiation by the company remains in the air, for example: The client calls the company and urgently requests an order and the delivery remains to be confirmed, but if the call does not arrive confirming or denying the service, the client will think that the company will fulfill its requirements.
Ambiguous promises are very common in most organizations; Despite the fact that many executives blame the client for assuming these types of promises, it is the companies that make or stop making them.
- Unclear promises. Those that are established with a very wide compliance range and that clients adjust to their needs or desires, which causes disappointments even though the company apparently complies with them. For example: Your order will be received next week, the customer is told without specifying the day, leaving it to be assumed, like any other person, that the delivery will happen on Monday or Tuesday… and when you receive it on Thursday you will be disappointed.
These types of promises are very dangerous, because in addition to generating customer dissatisfaction, if the company does not adequately measure the fulfillment of each one, it can assume that the customer has no reason to be upset.
- Based on previous occasions. These types of promises are generated from the customer experience with the promise. If the client was given an additional service on a previous occasion, this time it will be assumed that they will do it again. These customer guesses also lead to disappointment over an alleged default. So, if you went to the mechanic to adjust your car brakes and when you receive it, you realize that they also washed it, the next time you go you will assume that it will be washed again, and if not, you will be upset because they did not meet their expectations.
To avoid false expectations and inconvenience to the client, it is necessary for the company to establish a promise together with the client, considering the above services.
Wrong establishment of promises
The second big problem that we have detected and analyzed in our investigations is that many companies make inadequate promises, thus increasing the probability of default. The three most common ways promises are misstated are:
- Lack of communication: Television and radio advertising seek to attract customers by promising things or services that do not correspond to the reality of the company, and therefore lead to disappointment for customers. It does not matter to promise wrongly. Sellers, order pickers, stockists, executives, and other staff who have contact with customers often make commitments without checking stock, delivery route, or production plan. This aided habit only generates noncompliance, customer discomfort and loss of time, in solving the mistake, for the company and for the employee who promised. Experience shows that promising well involves analytical work and investing time, without forgetting that the customer makes the promises to establish their service expectations.Not all factors are taken into account to promise properly. We have also noted that for companies that take their commitments seriously, compliance problems arise when they have failed to take into account all the variables or factors, to make promises that can be fulfilled. Many times only inventories are taken into account and the transport load capacity or the amount of transport equipment available is not included, nor are previous orders considered.Many times only inventories are taken into account and the transport load capacity or the amount of transport equipment available is not included, nor are previous orders considered.Many times only inventories are taken into account and the transport load capacity or the amount of transport equipment available is not included, nor are previous orders considered.
It is essential to take into account all the variables in order to have a greater probability of fulfilling the promises. Therefore, it is important to consider, before promising a service or product, the complete information that the company manages (inventories, trucks, average production times, load capacity, production capacity, business limitations, absent employees, etc.), also The previous commitments and the time necessary for their fulfillment must be taken into account and, on the other hand, establish an additional time for unforeseen events, in order not to default on a client.
Compliance depends on the Company
Compliance is the most important thing for the customer in terms of service and depends exclusively on service and depends exclusively on the company, since it is the company that sets the promises and generates expectations for the customer. Therefore, it is recommended for companies to avoid indirect promises and take the time necessary to analyze all the information and variables; in this way you can promise well, because it is at your fingertips. Following these points, if a company does not fulfill its promise, it is because it does not want to.
Compliance as the basis of quality
During the II International Congress on Quality, held at the Word Trade Center (WTC) in Mexico City, two businessmen testified to success stories in service quality, a paint company and a prestigious hotel, both awarded with the National Quality Award -. Despite the differences in the branch, clients and market, they agreed to highlight the importance of compliance within a quality culture.
In the case of the paint company, compliance is one of its five quality values, while for the hotel it is the second of the three basic steps of the service that all its collaborators learn.
From the above, we conclude that company compliance is a determining element in the customer's decision, and for the industry it constitutes the foundation for providing the best service.
