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Casual Articles - The Greatest Blind Spot: Customer Perception
Claude Hopkins is widely recognised as the father of advertising. His insights are so simple yet so profound and they apply just as well today as they did decades ago when they were first used.Here are three lessons, in Claude's own words. Please note that due to the era that it was written in, the language may be a little dated and that he uses the word "man" instead of "people".1. An advertiser suffered much from substitution. He said, "Look out for substitutes," "Be sure you get this brand," etc. with no effect. Those were selfish appeals.Then he said, "Try our rivals' too" - said it in his headlines. He invited comparisons and showed that he did not fear them. That corrected the situation. Buyers were careful to get the brand so conspicuously superior that its ma
4. Use problems as opportunities to demonstrate what you are about – Customers judge the quality of service you deliver in two basic ways: First, based on how well you deliver what you promised. Then, on how you handle exceptions and problems. Problems will arise, and expectations will get muddy regardless of how good you are in your industry. Use those opportunities to show customers empathy: genuine concern for the
To succeed in today’s crowded marketplace where most of the products and advertising look exactly the same, a small business owner must stand out, shouting above the din with a message so clear and compelling that prospects stop and take notice. It’s a matter of business survival. Unfortunately, most entrepreneurs quickly retreat to the supposed security of sameness, soon to be lost in a sea of anonymity and a tidal wave of frustration. In effect, albeit at a subconscious level, they are saying , “I don’t want to be different”.In back room offices and store fronts everywhere, salespeople are telling business owners they should do this or that kind of ad because it worked so great for their competitor. The owners nod and sign on. It’s already proven to be a winner, right? WRONG!
The difference between the brand name hotels (or automotive companies for that matter) is that they have effectively leveraged people’s perception of their brands. Not only do they capitalize on it, but spend millions of dollars to promote it. The result is that when you think about luxury driving, you don’t think about Hyundai, you usually think about Lexus. Not so fair to Hyundai, who continues to build affordable, reliable cars every year.
By definition, perception is how we define our experiences. It is how we recognize and interpret stimuli. That applies to your customers, who are constantly making decisions about you and your brand based on what they perceive to be true about you. No two people perceive anything the exact same way. When it comes to customers, it is their perception of the quality of service you offer that determines success. The final measure of quality customer service is simply how the customer perceives it.
Your job is to make customers aware of what a great thing it is to do business with you. In their head, they are gauging what they are getting from you, compared to what they expect to get from you. The better you are at closing that gap, the better the perception customers will have about the quality and value of the services you provide. At times, you will have to remind them in many subtle ways that you add value to their lives, or business. Do not leave what customers think about you to chance. Here are some essentials to shaping a high-quality service image in the customer’s eyes:
1. Create and Maintain Accurate Customer Profiles – Do you know who your customers are? Companies spend a lot of time and exert a lot of effort on the wrong segment of the market. You cannot be all things to all people, but chances are that you are trying. Define as precisely as you can which customers you are trying to serve. Then develop an understanding of what is most important to them. Customer relationship management (CRM) tools can help you learn which types of customers are yielding the results you expect. Most CRM tools integrate marketing, sales, and support data and allow you to analyze your customer base and your efforts to give them great service from a broader perspective.
2. Look at your business through your customer’s eyes – Remember that the customer rates your service based on the way they see things. Take a step back to see things from their angle. Evaluate honestly everything the customer sees: your building, your website, and yourself. Don’t forget to also evaluate all communications that the customer receives from you: letters, marketing material, and email. Every single contact the customer has with your business is shaping their perception for better or worse.
3. Keep Your Promises – Reliability and responsiveness shape your customer’s perceptions of you. Businesses like UPS, DHL, and FedEx would never stay in business if they did not keep their commitment to customers. Although customers are more forgiving about their service expectations for other types of businesses, they still expect you to deliver on what you promised and to deliver when you said you would.
4. Use problems as opportunities to demonstrate what you are about – Customers judge the quality of service you deliver in two basic ways: First, based on how well you deliver what you promised. Then, on how you handle exceptions and problems. Problems will arise, and expectations will get muddy regardless of how good you are in your industry. Use those opportunities to show customers empathy: genuine concern for thei
Promotion of products or services has always been targeted at the special groups of audience that is divided on the basis of age, sex, social status and etc. Geo-targeting is also very important in marketing as it is wiser to appeal to specific features and environment than to use a one-size-fits-all advertisement, brochure or leaflet. Any kind of marketing campaign is directed at gaining profit from acquiring new markets for sales. Thousands of practical guides and manuals are written in order to comprehend and use the methods of successful marketing strategies; however, the psychological aspect and the notion of direct response marketing have not been covered to the full. How can an advertiser make his/her brand sound in consumers’ mind for a long time and be sure that the brand will r
By definition, perception is how we define our experiences. It is how we recognize and interpret stimuli. That applies to your customers, who are constantly making decisions about you and your brand based on what they perceive to be true about you. No two people perceive anything the exact same way. When it comes to customers, it is their perception of the quality of service you offer that determines success. The final measure of quality customer service is simply how the customer perceives it.
Your job is to make customers aware of what a great thing it is to do business with you. In their head, they are gauging what they are getting from you, compared to what they expect to get from you. The better you are at closing that gap, the better the perception customers will have about the quality and value of the services you provide. At times, you will have to remind them in many subtle ways that you add value to their lives, or business. Do not leave what customers think about you to chance. Here are some essentials to shaping a high-quality service image in the customer’s eyes:
1. Create and Maintain Accurate Customer Profiles – Do you know who your customers are? Companies spend a lot of time and exert a lot of effort on the wrong segment of the market. You cannot be all things to all people, but chances are that you are trying. Define as precisely as you can which customers you are trying to serve. Then develop an understanding of what is most important to them. Customer relationship management (CRM) tools can help you learn which types of customers are yielding the results you expect. Most CRM tools integrate marketing, sales, and support data and allow you to analyze your customer base and your efforts to give them great service from a broader perspective.
2. Look at your business through your customer’s eyes – Remember that the customer rates your service based on the way they see things. Take a step back to see things from their angle. Evaluate honestly everything the customer sees: your building, your website, and yourself. Don’t forget to also evaluate all communications that the customer receives from you: letters, marketing material, and email. Every single contact the customer has with your business is shaping their perception for better or worse.
3. Keep Your Promises – Reliability and responsiveness shape your customer’s perceptions of you. Businesses like UPS, DHL, and FedEx would never stay in business if they did not keep their commitment to customers. Although customers are more forgiving about their service expectations for other types of businesses, they still expect you to deliver on what you promised and to deliver when you said you would.
4. Use problems as opportunities to demonstrate what you are about – Customers judge the quality of service you deliver in two basic ways: First, based on how well you deliver what you promised. Then, on how you handle exceptions and problems. Problems will arise, and expectations will get muddy regardless of how good you are in your industry. Use those opportunities to show customers empathy: genuine concern for the
Whether you have already started a career in mold inspection or you are interested in starting one, you will likely find that training is necessary. Inspecting mold is an important job. Mold can have a negative impact on the health of individuals that regularly come into contact with it. This means that if you are inspecting mold, your job may have an impact on the health of your customers. A job this important often requires training. If you are interested in undergoing that training, it is likely that your training will focus on the inspection of mold.Mold inspection training, like training for many other jobs, can be offered a number of different ways. While examining mold inspection training, you will likely find that you can obtain training from a number of different bus
1. Create and Maintain Accurate Customer Profiles – Do you know who your customers are? Companies spend a lot of time and exert a lot of effort on the wrong segment of the market. You cannot be all things to all people, but chances are that you are trying. Define as precisely as you can which customers you are trying to serve. Then develop an understanding of what is most important to them. Customer relationship management (CRM) tools can help you learn which types of customers are yielding the results you expect. Most CRM tools integrate marketing, sales, and support data and allow you to analyze your customer base and your efforts to give them great service from a broader perspective.
2. Look at your business through your customer’s eyes – Remember that the customer rates your service based on the way they see things. Take a step back to see things from their angle. Evaluate honestly everything the customer sees: your building, your website, and yourself. Don’t forget to also evaluate all communications that the customer receives from you: letters, marketing material, and email. Every single contact the customer has with your business is shaping their perception for better or worse.
3. Keep Your Promises – Reliability and responsiveness shape your customer’s perceptions of you. Businesses like UPS, DHL, and FedEx would never stay in business if they did not keep their commitment to customers. Although customers are more forgiving about their service expectations for other types of businesses, they still expect you to deliver on what you promised and to deliver when you said you would.
4. Use problems as opportunities to demonstrate what you are about – Customers judge the quality of service you deliver in two basic ways: First, based on how well you deliver what you promised. Then, on how you handle exceptions and problems. Problems will arise, and expectations will get muddy regardless of how good you are in your industry. Use those opportunities to show customers empathy: genuine concern for the
It’s actually very interesting to be with a celebrity endorser for a while at a public place and see if anyone recognizes them, comes up to them just to talk, ask if they are who they think they are, ask for an autograph, or tell them, “I remember when I used to watch you on TV”, etc. This simple little exercise, while never planned, gives us insight into the possible success of the celebrity endorser we are contemplating using and what type of value we might be adding to the company or product.One thing that we have found to be critical is to never ever try and bring a regional celebrity endorser into a market that is too far from that celebrity endorser roots. Don’t try and place a San Francisco person in a New York promotion unless that person is from New York or currently li
2. Look at your business through your customer’s eyes – Remember that the customer rates your service based on the way they see things. Take a step back to see things from their angle. Evaluate honestly everything the customer sees: your building, your website, and yourself. Don’t forget to also evaluate all communications that the customer receives from you: letters, marketing material, and email. Every single contact the customer has with your business is shaping their perception for better or worse.
3. Keep Your Promises – Reliability and responsiveness shape your customer’s perceptions of you. Businesses like UPS, DHL, and FedEx would never stay in business if they did not keep their commitment to customers. Although customers are more forgiving about their service expectations for other types of businesses, they still expect you to deliver on what you promised and to deliver when you said you would.
4. Use problems as opportunities to demonstrate what you are about – Customers judge the quality of service you deliver in two basic ways: First, based on how well you deliver what you promised. Then, on how you handle exceptions and problems. Problems will arise, and expectations will get muddy regardless of how good you are in your industry. Use those opportunities to show customers empathy: genuine concern for the
We've all heard the jokes about car salesmen, especially used car salesmen. We have a picture in our minds of these shady characters we wouldn't trust with our pencils let alone with selling us an automobile. The truth is, car salesmen have a tough job. Think you want to sell cars for a living? You might want to read what follows first.In spite of what most people think, selling cars is not as simple as just showing somebody an automobile and getting them to sign on the bottom line. The car selling process for a salesman is actually quite involved with many steps along the way.For starters, most of the large car dealers have a sales force. This sales force is broken up into teams and shifts. Because most dealerships are open late, one shift takes the morning and afte
4. Use problems as opportunities to demonstrate what you are about – Customers judge the quality of service you deliver in two basic ways: First, based on how well you deliver what you promised. Then, on how you handle exceptions and problems. Problems will arise, and expectations will get muddy regardless of how good you are in your industry. Use those opportunities to show customers empathy: genuine concern for their needs and expectations. Use the tough times to show that you are truly committed to provide exceptional service.
5. Develop a unique relationship with your customers and treat each one as someone special – One of the most missed qualities about service is the unique relationships businesses enjoyed with customers in the past. The "corner store" environment where the storeowner knew each customer by name. The hometown restaurant where you could ask for "the usual". Customers go where they feel appreciated. Never underestimate the power and influence of treating customers right. Know your customers sincerely. CRM is a great tool for storing the most intimate details about customers, but if you are using the information only to sell them, you are missing a great opportunity to make customers for life.
6. Keep in touch and keep them informed – If you fail to stay in touch with your customers, they won’t be aware of the good service you’re giving them until something goes wrong. Use every opportunity and every means available to tell customers what you are doing for them. Similarly, proactively educate your customer on how they can make the best out of their investment with you. Every customer has a need to know, and the more you attend to this need, the more value they will perceive.
7. Remember that a large part of good service is "service" – A.P. Giannini, founder, Bank of America was quoted as saying "Serving the needs of others is the only legitimate business in the world today." Be a "good host" to your customers. Do whatever it takes to make the customer feel good in as many ways as possible. When you are in the presence of a customer, you are the host and the customer is the star. Make them feel that way.
Leverage your customer’s perception to your advantage. Correct blind spots in your perception of service quality. Above all, remember that, to stay in business, you must pay attention to how customers perceive you.
About the Author: Julio Quintana is a writer and speaker based in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the author of the upcoming book Learning How to Win & Keep Customers, a companion guide to the powerhouse classic, How to Win Customers & Keep Them for Life by Dr. Michael LeBoeuf. He writes regularly about client advocacy topics and customer relationship management practices and technology. www.julioquintana.com
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