The formulation Satis faction equals Performance minus Expectation came to me by way of Sir David Frost who was quoting advertising mogul Charles Saatchi during discussion we were having about how to keep customers happy.
In my experience I said, you can do the best job in the world for some clients and they’re never satisfied, whereas the same job would leave others ecstatic and in your debt for life. What’s the difference, I wondered? Sir David then pointed out that the answer lay completely in the client’s level of expectation. If the client expects result that, on an ascending scale of one to 100 is 90, and you deliver result that’s 100, the gap between the former and the latter is the level of satisfaction – in this case, plus 10 for you. That’s pretty good.
Conversely, if the client is expecting 100 – and you deliver 90, that’s minus 10 satisfaction level. Not good. You don’t keep clients very long with satisfaction numbers in the red. In that light, the S=P-E formula explains lot about why some clients stick with you and others are forever fickle. It’s all about what they expect from you. If their expectations are impossibly high, your relationship is doomed. Your performance will always fall short; the satisfaction will always be negative.
There are several ways to respond to this. The obvious one is to increase your performance. But as I said, you can do the best job in the world, but it’s irrelevant if the client doesn’t think it’s enough. better response is to try and control the client’s expectations.
Frame the argument in terms of failure
For example, not long ago we were pitching client about brokering the sale of one of his properties. The only problem: we had no idea what the final price might be. That didn’t stop the client from asking “how high do you think this will go?”
We were ready and had done our homework with fantasy number of what constituted grand slam in this transaction. But I’ve always thought it’s dangerous to deal in terms of absolute success. It sets the bar too high. If you clear the bar, you’ve only done what you promised and what everyone expected you to do. You’ve erased the element of surprise and wonder. You’ve turned what should be heroic deal into something routine.
All this was going through my mind as I pondered whether to reveal our fantasy number and let the client be dazzled by our confidence. But instead, I demurred. I said, “I have no idea where this will end up. But I’ll tell you this. Failure is anything less than $22 million. If we don’t hit that number, we don’t deserve our fee.”
In effect, I was guaranteeing the client sum of money. It wasn’t the biggest number I could have thrown down. But it was attractive to him and I could live with it. I think he appreciated my candour, and he signed with us. In the end we more than tripled that figure. But the client didn’t know that, and that’s why he remains client. We controlled his expectations.
Clients are very forgiving
Fortunately, playing the expectations game is not always this tricky. More often than not, clients are very forgiving when it comes to expectations. Think about it: When you buy car, what are your expectations? If you’re like most people, they are minimal at every stage of the process. You hope the car is delivered on time. You hope the salesperson doesn’t try to sell you needless upgrades and options. You hope the car runs well and you don’t have an accident when you drive away. If you can achieve that, you’re grateful. The people who fuss about and refuse to take delivery because of tiny imperfection in the paint job at the bottom of the rear fender are the exceptions, not the rule.
It’s the same when you buy clothing. (You hope it fits, looks good and doesn’t fall apart after one wash.) Or go to movie (you hope it’s as funny as advertised). Or go out for meal (you hope the food is edible and service acceptable). The truth is, the world of expectations is not cruel and rough. People are remarkably forgiving.
I’m not citing this as licence to lower your performance to meet the client’s lowered expectations. I’m merely point out that in an S=P-E world, you have lot of wiggle room to keep your clients satisfied. If you’re consistently failing to do so, it probably says more about your performance than their expectations.
Mark McCormack is the founder of International Management Group.www.successsecrets.com
