Customer Needs and Capabilities

For those of you reading, you know I like to talk about issues that run the gamut. And I figured it would be great to talk about an issue that affects us all—in both business and daily life. Let’s talk about balance. Specifically, balance is an integral part of keeping any company or person healthy and functioning properly.

The Art of Balance

In life, we juggle a lot of roles and demands. We wear a lot of hats if you will, and we have to constantly, every single day, find that proverbial sweet spot where we are juggling as many plates as we possibly can while not dropping any of them. Part of mastering this balancing act is taking a look at what we are capable of (how many plates can we possibly juggle, really?) We must take stock and know our limitations and set boundaries and realistic expectations accordingly. After all, just one single plate beyond our threshold can send them all crashing down.

This is the same in the business world. We have so much pressure to perform and please that we tend to overpromise. Yes, our customers have needs—and oh, do they have wants! But, we also have a max capacity of realistic capacities as a company that we are equipped to offer. No one company can be everything to every customer, and that is okay—and that is normal.

Again, the ideal scenario is to find that balance—that sweet spot—poised between customer needs and our capabilities. In my own experience, I understand the urge to overpromise and overreach. We want to please. Specifically, we want to make our customers happy and give them everything they want and demand. We want to deliver. We want to be able to do it all. The operative word here is “want”—and sometimes we just can’t do it all.

Know Your Limits

Far from being a weakness, knowing your limitations is not only a strength but a vital necessity when it comes to doing good business. One of the worst things you can do is overpromise—getting your customers’ expectations high and upping the ante—only to not deliver on your promises in the long run and let those customers down. Not only are your customers now devastated and most likely disgruntled (at the very least), but their trust in you and your word (those promises made) is shattered. And we all know that once trust is broken, it is nearly impossible to rebuild, and if you are fortunate enough to get that chance to do so, it is a long uphill road to second chances.

Simply put: People (and clients) respect people (and companies) who do what they say they will do. The hard reality is, when you overpromise and cannot deliver when the rubber hits the road, that ruins your credibility.

Finding the Sweet Spot

So, what now? How do we find that optimum place of balance between pleasing customers and meeting their needs and demands yet remaining mindful of—and operating within—our limitations? I’m a visual person, so it’s helpful to think of a Venn diagram when seeking to find that ever-elusive point of balance in my own practices.

For those familiar with the Venn diagram, when looking at it, you have these separate areas in your sphere that intersect with one another and overlap in certain areas. It is in finding that sweet spot where they meet, and there is shared space that we are seeking here—that balanced space of bliss living between customer needs and our capabilities. 

I assure you, it exists. It may not always be easy to find, and once you do find it, you can’t just rest there on your laurels. You have to continually be recalibrating and adjusting to your changing customers’ needs and your own evolving capabilities. As you seek to find this balance, I’ll leave you with an old German proverb that that alludes to the journey of finding (and keeping) this balance: “Promises are like the full moon, if they are not kept at once they diminish day by day.”~