Customer Perception

"One man's trash, is another man's treasure." Why you might ask. This is all due to the different perception of the people looking at a specific item. It could also mean a certain judgement that has been made about something/someone. For example, lets take something as simple as colour. My favourite colour is orange. However, when I asked one of my closest friend about his opinion on the colour orange, all he could say was "Yucks!! Why do you have to pick such a lame colour!!" What might be lame to him, is very special to me. Therefore, what i am trying to get at is that, there are millions and millions of people out there. People with different needs, wants and demands. Therefore, it is almost impossible to meet all the criteria or demands of the entire world. So how do we know what a person really wants?How are their perceptions formed?

Perception could be formed because of various reasons. Here are some of the reasons:

1. Previous Experiences.
2. First Impressions.
3. Word-of-Mouth.
   
4. Advertising & Promotions.
5. Decor & Ambience.
6. Recommendations.
   
7. Consistency of Quality & Delivery.
8. Product Design.
9. Preferences.
10. Product Innovation.
11. Advertising.
12. Pricing Policies,
13. In-store Experience.

Some of the factors mentioned above are within the company's control while other are outside the company's control.

Within the company's control:

• Advertising.
• Decor & Ambience.
• Pricing policies.
• First Impressions.

These are the factors that the company could adjust and improve on if they feel that there is a need for them to do so. They could also alter the perception of the customers to achieve their desired outcome. Besides that, there are also other factors that could change the perception about the company. These factors are beyond the company's control and they can only hope that it does not ruin their business a great deal.


Outside the company's control:

• Word-of-Mouth.
• Recommendations.
• Preferences.
• First Impressions.

When things go out of hand and the situation gets the better of the company, they need to step up their game and aim to do better for their next service or future cases. When this happens, they need to do some quick and effective Service Recovery.

What exactly is Service Recovery? It is the opportunity to make amends to a certain bad customer experience. It also helps to alter and build a better perception of your company and product. Here is a simple example of a good service recovery.

e.g. The server accidentally spilled a cup of soda onto a man's jacket. Of course, the man would immediately have the impression that the service staff is very inexperienced and clumsy. However, realizing his mistake, the service staff quickly apologize and escorted him to the restroom. After that, he offered to take his jacket and have it cleaned. Also, the service staff also gave the man a complementary drink and meal as a symbol of apology. He quickly took down his particulars and offered to deliver him his jacket back after it was done cleaning.

Therefore, with the quick service recovery made by the service staff, it could alter the customers perception and make him think a different way. Like the scenario above, the man had a first impressions that the service staff was clumsy and inexperienced. However, after the prompt and appropriate service recovery, he might think that the service staff had made an honest mistake and made the customer feel special.

Another form of aspect that a company can utilize to know its strengths and weaknesses is Customer Complaints and Feedback. Yes, complaints are a good thing. They are helpful as they help the company highlight the areas for improvements. furthermore, they can help the company achieve more than just that. They could:

• Highlights areas for improvements.
• Prevent complacency.
• Identify staff that needs further training and supervision.
• Monitor service level.
• Monitor consistency of service.
• Helps keep in touch with trends and expectations.
• Help to focus on priorities.

Besides focusing on the negative aspects of complaints, we can reassure ourselves that complaints gives us an opportunity to reply and respond. Research had been made and they have come to a conclusion that people who complaint are not trouble-makers or just out to get you. However, they are those that:

• Are Loyal & Sincere.
• Care about the business.
• Care about the services they receive.
• Wants to support your business.

These are just some of the factors that shows us how much a complaint can mean to a business besides the negative aspects of it.

Our actions and reactions and also service recovery ultimately aims to achieve a few goals and motives. All of these goals and motives have something to do with the level of customer satisfaction that they hope to achieve at the end of the day. the final result of all of this is to amke the customers feel:

1. Contentment.
2. That the organization cares.
3. That the organization is responsible.
4. That the organization is committed to give full, proper and prompt service.

So an organization needs to know who they are catering to in order to know what their needs, wants and demands are. They also need to be flexible and reasonable in terms of their goal to satisfy their customers. They also need to keep in mind that the entire market is huge and to satisfy the entire market would be near impossibility. Therefore, they need to focus on their own specific target market and aim to satisfy them first, before they could proceed to take thge next step in the service and customer-oriented industry.

"One man's trash, is another man's treasure"