Perception Gut Check

The $64,000 question: is the dress gold and white, or blue and black?

 

The answer is: it doesn’t matter. It’s whichever way you want to see it.

 

The bigger question is: how do the people around you see it? And do you care about their opinion?

 

 

When I was working for a Credit Union, walking into the HQ building (and most likely through a branch) each day, I viewed and perceived things quite differently than the members who were walking through our front doors maybe once per week. When you see things every day, it’s easy to skip over the nuances that might leave a bad impression with your customers, or even look over mediocre customer service.

 

 

 

The point is: you have to take a step back in order to get a good grasp of how your customers and members are interacting with your organization. You have to view things through a different lens.

 

It could be performing mystery shops with third parties. It could be walking into a branch with no other duties than to be the “Marketing Police”. It could be seeking out employees that may not know you and approaching them as a customer or member would. Each organization will tackle the solution differently.

 

Maybe what you find out from taking that step back won’t surprise you. Then again maybe they will. Whichever way the pendulum swings, remember this: the color of the dress is doesn’t matter, just as long as you can see the dress the way your customers do.