Introduction.
This is part of an assignment I had through the Praxis program. My instruction was to answer the following prompts concerning my previous experience with my expectations of products being fulfilled or unmet.
The goal of the assignment is to more accurately understand the importance of exceeding customer expectations and the important role that expectations play in a sale.
Expectations: Exceeded.
Describe a time when you purchased a product or service and it exceeded your expectations.
When I bought my first pick-up, I wanted to upgrade the stock stereo system so I bought a nice stereo and some relatively cheap door speakers from Walmart.
The speakers were only like $25 a piece but they sounded so good! I was blown away with the sound improvement for such a low price.
I was not expecting them to sound that good at all but I was quite pleased with them.
Expectations: Unmet.
Prompt 2: Describe a time when you purchased a product or service, and your expectations were not met.
The most recent experience that comes to mind was when I was looking to purchase a set of used Airpods. I had done a lot of research on them and had figured out some solid methods for determining real ones from fakes. So I was feeling pretty confident, shopping Facebook marketplace for them, armed with my expert knowledge.
Well, I made a deal with one person for an online order and upon receiving them, I determined they were real and I had paid a really good price for them so I was quite satisfied. However, the confidence boost that the purchase gave me would then lead me into the situation I am about to describe.
Being quite pleased with my marketplace wizardry, I decided that I should try to find another good deal on a pair for my sister for christmas. Well, I found another pair for a good price but this time it was an in-person meet up.
I got there and met the people, they didn’t seem like super high quality folks but they didn’t seem like scammers to me.
However, immediately upon meeting them, they told me what a hurry they were in and how much they needed to get going trying to rush my little inspection I was planning to do. So, I started looking the Airpods over, trying to hurry so they could get on their way (mistake No. 1.) and while looking at them I noticed that they were the newer second gen ones. This excited me because I thought if they were real, I would be getting a heck of a deal on some practically brand new Airpods (mistake No. 2).
Those two factors caused me to get sloppy and not inspect them as thoroughly as I should have. I completely forgot one decisive method to tell a real from a fake and regrettably gave them my money, thinking I was getting an even better deal then I had before.
It didn’t take me long once I got back to my car to realize that they were fakes but at that point it was far too late. They had the cash and were gone. It was really a bit of a toss-up as to which party was more in the wrong, them or me. Yeah, they sold me a fake product under the pretense that it was genuine, but I failed to do my due diligence in my greed and haste. Therefore, it turned out to be a really good lesson for me although I did and still do feel quite foolish for letting it happen to me.
Conclusion.
Expectations can play a huge part in a sale of any kind. It is important to try and meet expectations when you can as a salesperson but to realize when you can’t and be up front and honest about that.
I think in the long run, people will appreciate the honesty more and still be apt to work with you as opposed to if you give them the idea that all their dreams will come true when they may obviously not.
Travis McCoy 
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