While at our lake property yesterday, my husband and I were telling our neighbor about the snake we’d seen in the water. I had estimated that it must have been 3-4 feet in length. My husband quickly claimed seeing it as being at least 6 feet long!
I realize that Jerry is not one to stretch the truth – he actually saw that snake as being much longer than I saw it. We were looking at it from two different positions and, I must admit, he was closer to it than I was. Whether the snake really was 2 or more feet longer than I thought wasn’t the issue. Jerry and I had two completely different perceptions.
How often does this happen in other parts of our lives and, especially, in our business? It doesn’t really matter how WE think we’re treating our customers (whether internal or external). What matters is how THEY think they’re being treated. We may think we’re giving great, or at least satisfactory, service. Their perception may be entirely different.
So how can we learn what our customers think about the way they’re being treated? We can find ways to ask them! And we need to ask them frequently.
How long has it been since you’ve asked your customers, or clients, or patients, or donors, or employees what they think about the service you’re giving them? Maybe it’s time to do that.