When it comes to customer promises and the needs of an organisation it’s essentially just a matter of give and take. Customers expect a certain level of good customer service and expect to be given what they’ve been told they will have.

For example, if they’ve been promised a table seat by the window then that’s what they expect to get upon arrival. However, sometimes not everything works out, it could’ve been double booked and comprises have to made in order to keep the customer happy and the needs of the business met. So, if we continue with this example and the customer turned up and said table had been given away or was already occupied, in order to keep the customer happy something else could be put in place. Obviously, constraints in the business mean you can’t just get the other people that are on the table to move so some sort of compromise has to be made.

For example, a complimentary bottle of wine could be offered. This way, the customer is happy again because the problem has been overcome and they’ve been shown good customer service and it’s not effecting the business practically nor financially meaning both the needs of the business have been met whilst still keeping some sort of promise to the customer.