Don't Make Promises You Can't Keep

This past Monday during our Marriage Matters class, we played a fun Newlywed game. One of the questions asked about pet peeves. My biggest pet peeve is people who don't do what they say they are going to do. You might think this is a rare occurrence, but I see it on a regular basis.

For me, the severity does not matter. I experience the same distress from someone saying they will be on time and from someone who is a complete no show. I know it's not logical, but that's how my mind works.

Making promises that you can't keep is detrimental to customer service and marriage. It's similar to the boy who cried wolf. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. If you want people to believe what you say, it's important that you follow through with the promises that you make. To be more COMMitted, consciously make a choice to fulfill your promises, increasing the amount of trust in your relationship.

Lee

Throw in Something Extra

If you have read much about customer satisfaction research lately, you may have seen a new trend regarding customer satiation. The research shows that to actually satisfy customers, you have to do something that exceeds their expectations. One more time, for a customer to be satisfied, you must do more than they expect.

Customer service goals were previously about meeting the customer's standards. Now, the new wave of research contradicts that. To satisfy a customer, you do not have to perform a grandiose act. It could be something small like responding to an email within 12 hours when the policy states that you have 24 hours to respond. It could also be something as simple as giving them a coupon thanking them for their business.

You may start to see an inherent problem with customer satisfaction. If you start doing things that are unexpected, the customer's expectations will change. To counter this, companies must always be one step ahead and constantly find new things that they can do to exceed expectations.

How does this relate to marriage? Your spouse is most likely satisfied when their expectations are met. However, those expectations also change over time. Thus, you must constantly seek to identify these changing expectations. This week I challenge you to have an honest, open conversation with your spouse about their expectations. Once you know what they expect, try and add a little love to exceed those expectations with random acts of kindness.

Lee