Me + 2 MILLION people at New Year's Eve fireworks in Paris.
I went to Paris for New Year's Eve. My daughter lives there, so my wife, myself, and our son journeyed to France for a holiday visit.
It was lovely.
It was VERY crowded.
We went to the
fireworks on New Year's Eve.
The show is at the Arc de Triomphe, and 2 MILLION people collectively lined the twelve
streets that radiate outward from the arc like a spider's web.
🥂 Armed with champagne, scarves, mittens, and coats we
waited for the show to commence. At midnight, the first rockets soared.
Beautiful!
And then, after 10 minutes, a break in the action.
I looked left and right and realized that large clumps of the crowd were now SPRINTING toward metro stations. Confusing.
3 more minutes...still no additional fireworks.
It dawned on me that we were DONE. 10 minutes of fireworks. No finale where they shoot off many at once. Just...over.
🏃 The locals knew it was 10 minutes, and dashed for the metro with 15 seconds to spare. Not the Americans. In even the smallest towns, fireworks shows are at least 25 minutes. We were literally caught flat-footed.
This created a transportation challenge that culminated in a 65-minute walk through chilly Paris back to our hotel.
We expected the fireworks show to be much longer than 10 minutes. We weren't told that by anyone French, we just assumed it to be true based on prior, irrelevant experience.
Had I known it was 10 minutes, we would have played this game very differently, and it would have resulted in a much better experience.
And this happens in your business or organization every day, doesn't it?
Customer assumes how long it will take to set an appointment, get delivery, pay their invoice, get customer service on the phone, speak to a salesperson, etc etc etc.
The assumption - the expectation - is flawed. It's just wrong. And thus, the experience is negatively impacted.
The BEST thing you can do is to over-communicate about speed and time. YOU must set expectations for your customers (and explain why).
Because if you don't set expectations, the customers will rely on their own. And left to their own devices, customers always anticipate that you can do everything instantly,
and that the fireworks show will last at least half an hour.
This week, think about all the circumstances where your
customers are impacted by time. Then, think about whether or not you are guiding them about how long it will actually take.
Unset expectations yield unsavory outcomes.
