There are a number of things you can expect living out here in the desert of Arizona such as snakes, scorpions, and lots of dirt and dust just to name a few. But one thing you really wouldn’t expect, or even anticipate happening, is snow. So when I was snowed in yesterday it gave me a whole new perspective on “expect the unexpected.”
While I was home thinking about all the things I should be doing besides being snowed in, it occurred to me that had I listened to the news, I would have been warned of the impending storm and probably would have been better prepared to work from home. It would have set the expectation that I may be snowed in. It started me thinking about our customers. Are our customer’s expectations in line with our deliverables?
When you call our customer support, are you expecting to hold? If so, for how long? Are you expecting we will have the answer right away when you call? When you open a case online, are you expecting a quick turnaround? If so, how quick? Are we meeting, exceeding or not even close to what you are expecting the experience to be.
Many times decisions are made internal to a company without truly working with our customers to set the expectation. Can every call be answered instantaneously?
…Probably not, but it’s not what the outcome is, it’s what expectation is set on the onset that matters. For instance, if you expected to wait no more than three minutes, but we staffed for five minutes, it wouldn’t matter whether that is within “industry standard” or not… we didn’t meet your expectation.
As the VP of Customer Service & Support here at Infusionsoft, I want to talk about customer support expectations and want to hear about what you expect. Let’s start a discussion around what’s acceptable to you. Write back your thoughts in the comments below. 
[Image credit: Erica Marshall on Flickr]
