FRAM SYSTEMS ^blog

In the world of the service, perception is reality

In the world of the service, the client’s perception is reality. What your client perceives will ultimately guide his decision when the time comes to part with money for the result your product provides. Even though the quality of your product or service may be mediocre when measured objectively, if it is perceived to be the best on the market, potential client’s will prefer it over all others and will be willing to pay a premium price for it. Such is the power of perception.

Without question, your business must retain a base of satisfied and loyal clients. While some companies strive to build the most value for their clients and make them conscious of there efforts, others only presume that the value they provide is understood.

By quality, I mean a measure of excellence; what the quality conscious client is looking for and how they measure it from their perspective. Therefore quality of service is determined by the client on what they believe is the most important aspect of your product or service.

Service, like any intangible, is as much expectation as it is reality. It is certainly worth the effort to to analyze quality from the point of view of our clients and to ask ourselves, what do they want? When do they want it? At what price? Has our competition done a better job of filling their perceived wants, needs and desires?

From the client’s point of view it is easy to make the distinction between objective quality, that which can be precisely and technically measured, and subjective quality, or that which is client perceives.

Technical quality is easily measured. Seeing if a product or service meets some established industry standard or reading the ingredients of a packaged food product or the horsepower ratings for a vacuum cleaner motor give us an idea of technical quality. Subjective quality however is not so easily measured yet is is the true and perhaps only standard our clients use to judge us by. Indeed the technical measurements of quality actually may never come into play for our clients. Instead the measure our quality as perceived by the appearance of our offices or stores, how our product is packaged or presented, if our delivery trucks are clean, our personnel uniformed, clean and well mannered and if their orders are filled completely and on time. The list goes on and on, but it is one you had better consider if your company is to be perceived as delivery quality and service.

Yet the fact that subjective quality is based almost solely on perception does not mean that it cannot be measured or that it exists only in our client’s minds. To be able to compete quality and service we must actively manage both quality and service by keeping in mind how our clients actually perceive them and by asking our current and perspective clients what is important to them. We must test and retest what our clients consider important.

To accomplish this we can ask our clients directly through surveys and focus groups, from monitoring calls to our support desks and posts on social networking and review sites. We can also design our marketing and advertising to stress different aspects of what we believe is important to our clients and see how they respond to those messages. And while the former is important, the latter will reveal in terms of real sales, just what is a deciding factor for our clients. Keep in mind these factors can change from area to area and product to product within your marketing areas and offering.

Undoubtedly there are a few areas that are always considered important: the human aspect. Speedy and attentive service, knowledgeable and courteous staff, usefulness and practicality. After all does your product and service actually meet the wants, needs and desires of your clients and deliver on what it promises?

Stick to the basics. Strive to learn just how your clients perceive your company, your product and service and your people. Ask and observe exactly how your products are used and work tireless to improve them. Give more and make sure you communicate exactly what makes your product and service better, in every venue your clients pay attention to.