After landing in the breathtaking City of Halifax for our recent Ignite event, I made my way to the rental car company to pick up a car that had been reserved a week earlier. When I reached the Avis desk, I was told that the car I had reserved was not available.  However, in an effort to make amends, the Avis rep graciously said he could upgrade me to a larger vehicle if I could just wait five or ten minutes.  A ten-minute wait for a free upgrade? I thought. No problem—I’ll take it.

Forty minutes later though, I am still waiting.

In that moment, I dropped into what I call the expectation gap—the void between what we think is going to happen, and what actually does.

The Expectation Gap and Word of Mouth
We often toss terms like “referral” and “word of mouth” around as ideals for building a sustainable business. But while it’s true that positive and negative word of mouth can make or break a business, it’s important to realize that word of mouth doesn’t exist without the expectation gap.

If the expectation gap is positive—that is, we get more than we thought—then we spread the good word. If it’s negative, then we announce our disappointment. But no expectation gap means no word of mouth, period. No tweets, no posts, no reviews. We don’t speak about products or services at all unless that gap exists.

Leveraging a Negative Gap
When we exceed expectations, positive word-of-mouth tends to follow. But does that mean that negative gaps are the kiss of death? Far from it.  In fact, a disappointed customer is often a new fan waiting to happen.

Consider this experience I had later that very same day.  My family and I walked across the road from our hotel to The Keg for dinner. It was a Monday, and we didn’t think we’d need a reservation, but the place was jammed, and we were told there would be a 20-30 minute wait. We were hungry and a bit disappointed, but decided to stick it out—it’s my son’s favorite restaurant.

Less than 10 minutes later, voila our table was ready! We were pleasantly surprised to say the least, and enjoyed a great meal.

At first blush, that seems like a simple enough scenario but here’s the important part:
If not for our initial disappointment in getting a table at The Keg, I wouldn’t be writing this post talking about their great service. I’d simply have enjoyed a great meal and moved on in silence. This is why the negative gaps matter.

A negative gap (a disappointment) can be transformed into an even more powerful positive experience.

Compare my two experiences. Both began with unmet expectations—the disappointment of having to wait.  But both were handled differently. Despite a free upgrade to a better car, Avis let me down by making me wait 4 times longer than expected. The Keg, however, exceeded my expectations after the first disappointment of having to wait for a table, and here I am writing this blog with a newfound motivation to spread the word.

In today’s point and click era, everyone has a platform. The internet has given each of us a soap box to shout out both our disappointments and our thrills. But as I learned last week, sometimes it takes the effort of turning a disappointment into a delight to get people like me to speak up.

Have you managed to turn a disappointed client into a fan? Share your story in the comments below.  I would love to hear.