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conducive to the company's overall success.
Dr. Bellows finally revealed that he was the person who had rated the importance of customer satisfaction as only a 2 out of 5. Why? Because satisfied customers don’t tend to be excited about the interaction. They are less likely to be loyal or spread the word about your goods and services. Customers are more likely to discuss being delighted. And most of all, they share widely when they are disappointed. So, while customer experience is critical, customer satisfaction is relatively unimportant compared to delighting customers and most crucially, in not disappointing them.
While it might be impractical to delight customers in every facet of your business, you can delight them in specific areas, such as a restaurant with the best salad bar or the most exciting draft beer assortment.
The Problem with Focusing on Customer Expectations
Dr. Bellows argued that an emphasis on customer satisfaction aligns with catering to past demands rather than innovating for current and future needs. He underscored that customers only expect what companies and their competitors have conditioned them to expect. Citing historical inventions like electric lights and the internet, Bellows points out that groundbreaking innovations were not customer-initiated requests but became indispensable to them once introduced.
He quoted Steve Jobs and Henry Ford to reinforce this idea, noting that innovation often arises from visionary thinking rather than customer feedback. Jobs is quoted saying, "It's hard for them to tell you what they want when they've never seen anything like it," and Ford supposedly remarked that had he asked customers what they wanted, they would have said "faster horses."
The core message from Dr. Bellows is the need for broadened thinking that fosters discovery and innovation rather than a narrow focus on fulfilling existing customer expectations, which, according to him, restricts progress and differentiation in a competitive market landscape. While a division of labor is required in businesses, tasks should be designed so that they make the greatest contribution to overall company success.
There were other powerful insights offered in the session, unfortunately too many to mention in this article. Next time, be sure to attend in person! Find out more by visiting the WPA Events page at www.westernpallet.org/events.
Is Focusing on Customer Satisfaction a Mistake? (Cont'd from Page 21)