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August 29, 2007
Uncoordinated Customer Obligations - UCO
"You-CO" or "Yuk-o"
What is a UCO?
In its' simplest form it is a bad practice where person A makes a commitment to a customer upon behalf of person B, without bothering to talk to person B beforehand.
Sales people do this a lot. "Sure, Joe will take care of it, no problem" then they get back to the office and say "We told them we'd do blank."
Leaving someone else to fill in the blank, as they move along to their merry way, having cleared this upon their checklist.
The problem with UCOs is that there could be reasons (technical or resource related) where the OBLIGATION might not be met. Leaving the customer to yell at some later date, "You told me this would happen!!!"
Not a good scene.
UCOs stem from bad communication and the desire to get something done,, but one should never make an obligation -- even an implied obligation -- to the customer without all company parties involved understanding the expectations involved.
Posted by dmohney at August 29, 2007 03:35 PM