The Paradox of Excellence
The "Paradox of Excellence" smacked me upside the head this morning.
A client who has repeatedly told us that "SHIFT is the best agency I've ever worked with" called up to voice their concern about a missed editorial opportunity. (Anyone in the PR realm has felt that sting. I won't belabor the details.)
You'd think that after 15 years in the business it would be hard to surprise me, but I confess that I was indeed flustered by how quickly a heretofore blissful client became so disgruntled. And that's when I remembered the Paradox of Excellence:
"Many companies discover their improved performance doesn't translate into higher perceived value. In fact, it simply shifts the customer's expectations upward, causing the customer to take the new, improved performance for granted.
"High-performance companies unwittingly create unrealistic customer expectations that become impossible to meet. [... This is] the paradox of excellence: 'the better you perform, the more invisible you become --- to everything but bad news.'"
Think that's malarkey? How often do you think about your electric utility? Only when the bill shows up and when the power is out, right? Your power company is invisible to you except when these two bad things happen.
It's all about "expectation management." One of the expectations that I'm going to add to my repertoire for clients is, "It's rare, but, sometimes, shit happens."
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Comments
Great, great post.
I'm off to Amazon to order copies of the book for my firm's team!
Posted by: JesseCiccone | September 25, 2006 05:53 PM
That’s a nice gift for my return form holidays, thank you.
I was wondering what happened with some of our clients as some of their reactions were somewhat disgruntled. Now i know. Already sent the quotation to my colleagues who are worried what’s wrong with THEM...
Guess I will add this book to my Diana Krall CD order at Amazon today
Posted by: Otakar Schon | September 26, 2006 05:41 AM
Expectation management is a very delicate tightrope to walk. I've experienced exactly the same thing you write about and feel that, although it's unfair, it also comes with the territory....especially with the less sophisticated clients. World class-clients, though, can also have this "tude.
I remember working with a top Japanese corporation years ago whose mindset was: "Big deal, you scored a major placement. We're the ABC Company. Media HAVE to write about us." But, woebetide the poor account executive if this particular client was left out of an industry round-up.
So, yes, excellence can create unrealistic client expectations. But, then, there are also unrealistic clients who simply don't understand that, as you put it, shit happens.
Posted by: steven cody | September 26, 2006 09:50 AM
I knew this was a problem but didn't know how to describe it. 2 copies on the way now. Thanks for the post.
Posted by: doug | September 26, 2006 01:53 PM
I worked in the water industry and came across the same issue (though I couldn't explain it nearly as well). I turn a knob, water pours out. Simple, right?
The only time you hear about water is when there is too much in a region (flooding), too little (drought, which you really don't hear about much any more) or pollution.
The water industry has worked hard to create and maintain a stable, responsible image - especially for municipalities - but the cost is they have become invisible.
Turn knob = water.
This is actually creating a crisis situation where the average water pro is over 50 years old and due to retire within the next 10 years. There are not enough younger people to replace them, almost nobody knows about this and the knowledge of all these veterans is likely to evaporate.
(Couldn't help myself.)
Think of a world where a whole generation of professionals disappears almost at once! Water will become more expensive, campagns will be created to attract new tallent, more problems will occur due to inexperience, and finding pros to work in remote areas - especially 3rd world areas - will be almost imposible.
Turn knob = $$$
Posted by: rmccarley | September 26, 2006 05:48 PM
Thanks, all, for the thoughtful responses to this post.
This is a tough nut to crack: we WANT to strive for excellence, but it sucks when the reward for excellence is outsized expectations.
Such is life?
Posted by: Todd Defren | September 26, 2006 08:28 PM
Thanks for the heads up on this, I worked for a publishing company producing English Language textbooks for big SA publishing company and it is exactly like that with editing.
Your good work is never noticed, but if a spelling error or a missed attribution slipped through your eagle-eye, there sure was gonna be hell to pay...
Weird, actually ;)
Posted by: Mario Olckers | January 18, 2008 11:01 AM