Professor Art Middlebrooks teaches Marketing of Services at University of Chicago Booth School of Business. I love his teaching style. I love the way he relates traditional marketing principles to current pop culture. And I loved our discussion on the whole concept of “underpromise and overdeliver.”
He said that it’s actually been psychologically proven that underpromising and overdelivering makes a consumer actually think they’re not getting as high quality of a service. Their expectations are low, so they’ll possibly perceive you as shoddier than a competitor. Instead, he suggests to promise what you can actually follow through on, and then consistently deliver, over and over again.
I’ve always run with the “underpromise, overdeliver” mindset, but now I’m wondering if I need to adapt it a bit: “promise, and deliver over and over.”
What’s your customer service mantra? And how does it work for you?
