With energy and gasoline prices playing havoc with consumer spending decisions, the last thing American businesses want to do is give consumers yet another reason to NOT choose them when they do spend money.  But that's what has happened based on the latest customer satisfaction numbers released by a University of Michigan study of 80,000 consumer preferences and expectations (Chicago Tribune, May 20, 2008).

What the survey found is that many companies are over promising and under delivering on service and satisfaction.  Their own cost pressures are one reason for poor performance; organizations that are not designed to deliver customer satisfaction can be another reason.

Delivering satisfying experiences must be culturally based.  Leaders cannot simply mandate that their employees provide exceptional service without providing the tools, training and infrastructure to do so.  If your customers are telling you that your organization is providing lousy service, maybe it is time to really examine your organization and how it goes about delivering on its service promise.

Our second book, Earning Success, which will be available through this web site in late June 2008, examines the proposition "Living Customer Satisfaction" in depth.