overwhelming majority say their group, department, or organization
is meeting their customer expectations, with more than a third
saying they are meeting them extremely well. There’s also good
news for smaller companies, the majority of whom say they are
meeting customer expectations extremely well.
“Customer expectations have increased noticeably,” says one
manager. “From our perspective, these expectations focus intensely
on understanding their business, their goals, and acting as a strategic
partner who can anticipate problem areas and proactively provide
input and counsel.”
Of course, meeting and exceeding customer expectations can
cause those expectations to keep rising to new levels. “Each time
a customer receives service that makes a positive impression, it
becomes harder to impress that customer the next time,” says one
manager. “This is true for the same company as well as any other
company the customer deals with.”
But these higher needs on the part of customers also cause businesses
to step up the pace and to push down costs, which is a key
result of tough management. “My customers expect increased levels
of service for less than they have historically paid for those same
services,” says one manager.
As a company’s customers are being squeezed by market conditions,
the pressure is increased all along the value chain. “All my
customers are doing more with less,” says a manager. “This drives
up demand and expectations for the services my team provides. I,
too, must do more with less, so keeping up with customer expectations
continues to be my biggest challenge.”
The real-time world of today, with always-on access to everyone,
has changed what people have come to expect. Customers see fastpaced
response in one arena and come to expect it in others. “The
speed of life in general has increased in the information age,” says
a manager. “We as individuals or consumers expect to be instantly
supplied. This is probably due to nearly instant computer responses.