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easier to fail in a service than to succeed.
To make matters worse, most service relationships are not deeply cultivated:
a few meetings here, a couple of lunches there. Add up those hours, and they
rarely equal two dates. Unfortunately, trust takes time—more than two dates’
worth. And so service failures, which are much more obvious than successes,
erode the client’s already weak trust at the heart of the relationship.
Given that failures are obvious but most successes are invisible, what must
you do?
Advertise your successes. Show your client what you have done.
If you beat the deadline by two days (a good idea), make sure the client
knows.
If you came under the estimate by 7 percent (an even better idea), make sure
the client knows.
If you are especially proud of something you did, make sure the client knows.
Don’t expect the client to see how hard you have worked, how much you
have cared, and how well you have performed. So often, the client is the last to
know.
Make sure the client knows.
Satisfaction and Services
How do you satisfy a service customer? With surprising difficulty—as you will
realize when you compare it to your own experiences with buying products.
You decide to buy a car, for example. Our world being arranged as it is—
around the automobile— you need a car. If you are typical, you also desire a car
and may even covet a particular one: the leather seats, the special trim packages,
the six coats of paint, and the messages that car conveys.
When you buy that car, you are satisfied the second you pull out of the
dealership. The car is just what you wanted.
After you buy a product, it constantly reinforces your satisfaction. You golf,
for example. You covet and buy a Titleist Tour 100 balata golf ball. Each time
you wash and wipe off the ball, the white-on-white finish that attracted and
satisfied you from the beginning reminds you what a smart purchase you made
and how satisfied you are. Each time you strike the ball well, the ball’s high arc
through the air and soft landing on the distant green reminds you again. Your
Tour 100 ball continually satisfies you—just as the car, a flattering sweater, or
that big-screen TV satisfies you constantly by its presence. Seeing is believing,
