1. Customer wants something that you don't currently provide.
2. Customer thinks this something should be easily obtainable either because it sounds easy or because other competitors have it already.
3. Employee representing Company, wanting the Customer's business, agrees with the Customer and figures that the customer must be right so the something that they want should be obtainable.
4. Employee promises the Customer that the Company will get his request done quickly many times even promising dates without checking with others.
5. Request gets to the rest of the organization, who are already involved in other priorities based on past requests and expectations and told to make this a high priority.   Request also could end up being something very unique to this organization and of little or no value to the majority of the customer base.
6. Organization shuffles around and given the tight deadlines that came from the customer either misses those deadlines or cut corners to meet them.
7. Customer is frustrated with the solution or how long it is taking and is feeling that the Company misrepresented itself in making the promises.
8. Organization is frustrated, work in now behind on other priorities, and Customer is ready to walk out the door (and sometimes does)!

Does this sound familiar?   What do you think would happen to a company who continues to operate this way?  My guess is that they would end up losing their customers and telling the competition that the company couldn't live up to its promises and is unreliable and lacks integrity.   Would you want to work for a company where customers feel this way?   Not me!   This model of "overpromising and undelivering" needs to stop!

How about this scenario instead?

1. Customer wants something that you don't currently provide. Customer thinks this something should be easily obtainable either because it sounds easy or because other competitors have it already.
2. Employee, if they have heard this request before, let's the Customer know when to expect this functionality (if it has been determined important and has a project planned), or let's them know that others have had similiar requests but the Company has decided not to do these requests for "these reasons".
3. Employee, if they have not heard of this request before, tells the Customer that they will submit their request for consideration and get back to them
4. Request goes to the business stakeholders for consideration.  They look at current priorities, value to the overall customer base with this request, impact to the organization, and current capacity of the organization to determine what priority (if any) should be given to this request.
5. Employee gets back to the Customer with the results.
6. If the Customer is unhappy because either the dates aren't what is expected or the organization has decided not to do the request, Employee tries to let Customer know of other priorities that are of value to them and other customers that the organization is currently working on.  If the organization has done their homework, the customer should see value in those other priorities and understand.   
7. If the request was approved, organization works on request at the right time, with the right people and given sufficient time to accomplish the request according to the company's quality standards.
8. All Customers are pleased with the new solutions and knows what is coming next from the Company.  They see value with the solutions and are happy that the Company spent the time to make sure the solution is of high quality, meets their needs, and improves their business.
9. Customer tells others about the organization and of their integrity and looking to meet their needs with a sound solution.  Organization is happy because things are doing right, in the right order and the referrals bring other business to the Company.

Now we are talking a win-win scenario for your customer base and your organization.  Sure, there may be customers who want things that you can't provide or aren't quick enough for them.   However, there should be many other customers (who will tell others) that are very satisfied in the process.  If you lose those customers that aren't satisfied, it may be better in the long run anyways.   Plus, your employees will appreciate a company that treats their employees the same way as they treat their customers - with consideration and the upmost respect and integrity!  As a manager, it allows me to be proactive than reactive and be able to achieve focus and efficiency in getting things done for our customers.  As a consumer, I would appreciate a company that "promises and delivers" and even occassionally "underpromises and overdelivers" if what is delivered is better than expected and meets my needs.