While that old saw re underpromise and overdeliver as a tool for managing customer expectations, always did seem to be true, it now seems to have some theoretical underpinnings as well. The Wall Street Journal is reporting new findings indicate that while the payback for exceeding expectations can be small, the penalty for missing them is greater.
To quote from the study Doing More, Doing Less: Asymmetric Consequences of Exceeding versus Falling Short of Promises by G.Ayelet and N.Epley : “…falling short of one’s promise makes promise-receivers significantly unhappy compared to doing exactly what was promised.”, at least according to the authors’ experiments.
And so, as per the above study, we will be changing the corporate motto here at GadgetManiac Inc. from “Cool Gadgets and Beyond” to “Lame Gadgets and Less“…
Why Preparing Others for an Effort’s Failure Can Bring You Success – WSJ, January 16 2007
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This is definitely a balancing act. If your expectations are too low, you won’t get many customers in the first place.
This is a lesson I wish more politicians would learn.