
Discover more from Course Notes: Continuous Business Learning
TL/DRs of articles I think help with thinking better and balancing the business world view
Over 3,000 subscribers
Continue reading
Common Knowledge
You will delight your customers by underpromising and overdelivering, i.e. going above and beyond what the customers expect.
Rebuttal
Test: underdeliver, deliver to the letter, overdeliver on promises.
Overdelivering produces little meaningful increase in gratitude or appreciation.
A promise is a contract; you expect what was promised to you and nothing more (otherwise you would’ve asked for more).
Delivering to the letter is essential for maintaining reputation [MK: which is more important for the word of mouth than delight].
Generosity is not as important as fairness.
[MK: generosity advertised via the word of mouth leads to unrealistic expectations by new and existing customers.]
Why 'Underpromise and Overdeliver' Is Terrible Advice
There is another point (not mentioned here) which is applicable in professional services, 'Underpromise and Overdeliver' is not a good approach when you have "super" stars in your team who can overactive the results, but then when a team member needs to be replaced and another one may not keep the bar of that individual.
And what could happen even worse, that overdeliver becomes a new standard.
Therefore, it's much better to master the predictable outcome without any margin on both sides.