Key takeaways:
- Satisfaction depends on how well products meet expectations shaped by marketing.
- Sellers focus on benefits while buyers are often skeptical, especially about new technologies.
- Fleets should consult unbiased sources and early adopters to balance optimism and skepticism for better decision-making.
I think our satisfaction or dissatisfaction with something often depends on how well it lives up to the hype about it. Regardless of whether it is a new restaurant, a Broadway play, or a new technology, after we read the marketing promotions and all the buzz on social media, we form an opinion about how good the food will be, how entertaining the play will be, and how well the new technology will perform.
Sometimes our expectations match our reality. But sometimes all the things we’ve heard before we’ve eaten in the restaurant, seen the play, or incorporated the technology into our fleet fall short of our expectations. We end up being disappointed or dissatisfied.
I think this happens quite a bit because of the dichotomy between sellers and buyers. Sellers have invested a lot of time, money, and effort into bringing their products to market. They are proud of their work and excited about what they have been able to achieve. So, it is natural for them to focus on the good things—the benefits of the products—while not talking about the not-so-good things—the challenges. I do not want to imply that manufacturers are deliberately misleading us about their products. I just think they want us to see their products in the best light—the way they do.
On the other hand, buyers tend to be skeptical, especially when a new technology replaces a tried-and-true one that has served them well for years. And especially if what they’ve heard about the latest technology leads them to believe it will make them more efficient, profitable, or be a complete solution to their problem.
The other thing to consider is that the way a product performs in the lab or limited field testing may not be the way it will perform in the real world. The real world has a way of throwing a curveball at a lot of things.
See also: Roeth: Fuel efficiency matters regardless of the powertrain
Today, when fleets are faced with a myriad of powertrain options, things can get especially complicated, and choosing the wrong technology for the application can have very negative consequences.
So, what’s the solution? My advice is for sellers to temper their hype and for fleets to rein in their skepticism. But fleets should also seek out unbiased sources of information. NACFE is one of those, and we encourage fleets to read our reports or talk to us at trade shows, conventions, and meetings. There are other unbiased sources that focus on facts and information, stripping out the hype. Fleets should also talk to other fleets that are early adopters of technology to find out from them how the technology performed in their applications and duty cycles.
One of the things I really like about the trucking industry is the willingness of the people in it to share their experiences with others for the betterment of the entire industry.
I think, ultimately, we need both the optimism of the developers of new products and technologies and the skepticism of the people out in the field who are going to be using that product or technology. If we combine the two views, we’ll end up in the middle. And the middle is where reality lives.
About the Author
Michael Roeth
Executive Director
Michael Roeth is the executive director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency. He serves on the second National Academy of Sciences Committee on Technologies and Approaches for Reducing the Fuel Consumption of Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicles and has held various positions with Navistar and Behr/Cummins.