Three Valuable Tips for Managing Customers Expectations Consider these perceptive quotes about expectations

• The first step in exceeding your customer’s expectations is to know those expectations. ~Roy H. Williams, founder of the Wizard Academy
• The key is to set realistic customer expectations, and then not to just meet them, but to exceed them — preferably in unexpected and helpful ways. ~Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group
• I always love to be careful with my expectations so that life has pleasant surprises for me. ~Sebastian Thrun, CEO of the Kitty Hawk Corporation, chairman and co-founder of Udacity

Know. Be realistic. Be careful. In other words, manage expectations.

Melissa Wright, (pictured below) Manager of the Project Management Department at Smithville Communications recently presented at Fiber Connect 2018 in Nashville, TN on the topic of managing customer expectations, specifically when it comes to deploying gigabit connectivity.

In addition to presenting at the conference, Wright speaks of the value Smithville reaps in participating in Fiber Connect. “This conference is a great event for us to see best practices in the Fiber To The Home industry, learn about the latest and greatest technology out there for us Internet Service Providers, guide us to better serve our customers, and provide us with a sneak peek at what other providers around the country and world are doing to give their customers the best experience possible.”

Wright shares three discoveries Smithville learned from first-hand experience.

Personal Devices Have Throughput Limitations – Personal devices stretch available bandwidth when multiple smartphones, a tablet, streaming television, desktop computer, gaming console, smart appliance, and laptop are all struggling for the same signal. Supporting customers so they understand upfront how much internet speed they need is essential. Tools like How much internet speed do I need? are easy to use and provide a quick assessment of projected usage.

Educate Customers – Educating customers based on real needs is paramount. Smithville starts by educating their employees who are also customers. Relying on trained and friendly customer service representatives to answer customer questions proves to be another effective approach. Self-service how-to videos on Smithville websites and social media offer yet another option to customers.

Support Teams and Wireless Deployments Go Together Like Mac and Cheese – Competent technical deployment of wireless networks is a baseline customer expectation. Internet Service Providers like Smithville differentiate by pursuing deployment and support. That support includes continual performance monitoring, administering necessary software fixes and update, and assessing wireless performance compared to customer usage.

Regardless of whether you are deploying gigabit connectivity, military personnel, software, systems or processes, management of expectations must receive faithful attention. What advice have you found most advantageous when managing expectations?