Geri had been dealing with backups in the downstairs plumbing system of her house on and off for the past year. The most recent company that she called in to unclog the pipes stated that they could send a camera down the pipes and tell her exactly where the issue was located. So, she scheduled an appointment.
When the technician came to her house, he ran a camera down the pipes. He told Geri that – according to the equipment – he thought he saw a crack in the pipe 77 feet from the house. The technician paced off 77 feet and ended up in the middle of Geri’s driveway. The tech said: This is where I think the roots are getting into the pipe and causing the backup. Since it’s in the middle of your driveway, we’ll need to bring out some equipment and dig up the concrete to get below the driveway and replace the pipe.
Geri was disappointed that the issue was under her driveway. She asked a simple question that all customers would probably ask in this situation: Are you sure this is where it is?
The tech proudly replied: I have a 95% accuracy rate for knowing where the issue is located.
At that point, Geri remembered that the tech said he thought he saw a crack. He said I think the roots are getting into the pipe. And then she thought 95% accuracy means 5% inaccuracy – a 5% chance he could be digging out her driveway, and the issue isn’t really there.
A Second Opinion
It turns out that the issue was not where the tech thought it was. A second company came out and found the issue about 25 feet from the house about a foot below the surface of her lawn. This resulted in a less costly solution, and it was a matter of digging a hole and replacing a piece of the pipe rather than digging up the driveway and having to repour part of the concrete.
Quality means different things to different people, so we need to define quality through the customer’s eyes. And oftentimes that customer is not focused on the percentage of times that things go right; rather they’re concerned with the possibility that he or she is part of the percentage of times when things go wrong.
View quality through the customer’s eyes. It makes you more empathetic, and it helps you convey a solution that better meets the customer’s needs.
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