Surprise!

In the course of a friendly debate about schools of thought in quality management, AIM Prof. Rene Domingo and I have come up with quality conditional equations inasmuch as both of us are qualitative-oriented. Most of his ideas on quality management are found in his book entitled Quality Means Survival (Prentice Hall, 1997).

To our minds, the two important words to remember are expectation and perception. Expectation of the customer is greatly influenced by the promises made by the marketing strategy of the firm and the information disseminated by the competitors to the marketplace. As such, marketing is the art of creating expectations through promises. The perception of the customer is greatly influenced by what and how the product/service is delivered/rendered.

Therefore, the way we present and/or deliver our product/service creates perceptions. For example, the picture of a meal on the menu card of a restaurant will create an expectation in the customer’s mind. What will be expected is something like what has been portrayed in print. How and in what manner the actual meal is delivered will, in turn, create the perception about the meal.

Four equations

There can be four possible conditional equations and outcomes. The first conditional equation is: When expectation is equal to perception, you have customer satisfaction. This means the customer expectation generated by the marketing strategy (a promise) and the forces of competition exactly equal what was delivered and how it was delivered. There was no deviation from the expectation. A simple example is when the bill presented at the end of the meal conforms exactly to what was ordered and served.

The second conditional equation is: When expectation is greater than perception, you have customer dissatisfaction. The customer was expecting more and you delivered short. An example of this is when a customer is overbilled in a restaurant. The customer expected the bill to be correct but found out there were un-ordered and un-served items in the bill.

The third conditional equation is: When perception is greater than expectation, you have customer delight. What was delivered was more than what the customer expected. This happened to me during a family lunch on Mother’s Day. Aside from my family, our party included my sister-in-law and my mother-in-law. After the main course, we asked for the dessert menu. The waiter announced that since it was Mother’s Day, all mothers could have free dessert and that it was all right for the mothers to share these with their family. Naturally, we were delighted to have free desserts.

The fourth conditional equation is: When perception is much, much greater than expectation, you have customer surprise. In the same restaurant where my family had Mother’s Day lunch, we got customer surprise. After the meal, my mother-in-law presented her senior citizen’s card for her usual discount. The waiter said this was not necessary since mothers were part of the group and, because it was Mother’s Day, the whole group was entitled to a special Mother’s Day discount. The full bill was subject to a discount equivalent to the senior citizen’s discount rate. We were, of course, surprised. But I’m sure the restaurant still made money even after giving the discount.

Impact of conditional equations

When the customer is satisfied, one can expect the customer to at least come back to be satisfied again. When the customer is dissatisfied, one can expect the customer not to come back and, in fact, talk about the experience to other people (negative publicity by word of mouth). This will discourage potential customers from seeking satisfaction from your business.

When the customer is delighted, not only will customers come back, they will tell other people about the delightful experience (positive publicity by word of mouth). This, of course, increases the number and heightens the expectation of potential customers. As such, the delight will be expected. And, therefore, the delightful delivery will also be expected.

Thus, an entrepreneur must continue looking for new ways to delight the customer. This also raises the standard of the industry. The practice of serving "bottomless iced tea" illustrates this best.

Before this was introduced, it delighted the customer to have "bottomless iced tea". Today, it has become the standard and, therefore, expected. Customers get disappointed if the food outlet does not offer it. Here is an opportunity for entrepreneurs in the food game to think of something new to delight their customers.

When the customers are surprised, one can expect the customers not only to come back or tell other people about the surprise but also to bring friends with them when they come back. They want to make sure their friends experience the surprise they had. It is easy to describe delight. It is easier to describe satisfaction. But it is most difficult to describe the feeling of surprise.

One has to experience surprise first hand. This condition brings industry standards up very fast. This condition forces innovation as a way of life. Customers do not mind paying to be surprised.

An example of this is a place called Ugu’s in Tiaong, Quezon, where my wife and her friends entertained a balikbayan classmate. The restaurant resembled an artists’ village in Bali, Indonesia that also allowed guests to see and buy the stoneware and pottery products crafted by Ugu, the artist. She experienced surprise and had great difficulty relaying it. She wanted the family to experience it as well.

During our visit, we were indeed surprised by the experience. My wife was again surprised to see new works of art that she did not see the first time around. Since then, we have not only been telling our friends about it but have repeatedly brought them over. And still, with every visit, came another level of surprise–new artistic creations of Ugu.

Managing expectations

Mathematical logic dictates that if an entrepreneur wants to surprise customer, one must under-promise but over-deliver. In other words, manage expectations to be lower than what can be perceived in the product/service. I call this the underdog effect.

One example is not letting a restaurant look good but serving great good. Many do this to create surprise but two things come into play. As I have indicated earlier, if the surprise becomes an expectation, it is no longer a surprise. One must continue to innovate to surprise the returning customer. The second item is: If the expectation promised is too low, very few customers may be attracted to even try.

I do not suggest this kind of application of mathematical logic. The four equations also warn entrepreneurs not to make the customer expect anything that cannot be delivered. It will lead to dissatisfaction. This is also known as the yabang (or boastful) effect.

I do not suggest making promises that cannot be kept as well. It is better to promise what can be currently delivered (expectation equal to perception) but one must work hard to improve perception (make perception greater or even much, much greater than expectation).

Consider this trend. Competition used to be based on who could satisfy (as opposed to dissatisfy) customers. Thereafter, it migrated to who could delight (as opposed to those who can only satisfy). These days, the way entrepreneurs can beat the big boys is by playing the continuous surprise game.

(Alejandrino Ferreria is the associate dean of the Asian Center for Entrepreneurship of the Asian Institute of Management. For further comments and inquiries, you may contact him at: [email protected]. Published "Entrepreneur’s Helpline" columns can be viewed on the AIM website at http//: www.aim.edu.ph).