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Customer Behavior

INTRODUCTION: EXPECTATION GAP




In the world we live today, businesses and top executives must understand what differentiates their companies from others and must understand the needs of the consumers in their markets. If these two ingredients are understood, a business can develop a strategic plan to create a market niche and develop their customer base to be successful. Development of this information along with the development of the internal business processes can lead to some form of a competitive advantage in the market. The businesses and their representatives are directly responsible for the patterns of purchases (in the long run) of each of their customers. How they (the customers) will react within certain situations is largely due to the education and supplying the customer with enough data and tools to proficiently inform them of what is to be completed and within what context and timeframe. Understanding the customer and their reactions to the environment will prolong the life of the relationship between businesses and their customers.

Understanding the customer can be a starting point for most businesses and a re-evaluation point for most others. There are at times where a gap occurs between what customers expect and what management / businesses presume they expect. This often happens because companies overlook or do not fully understand customer's perceptions and expectations. In spite of a strong commitment and sincere desire to provide quality service, many companies fall dramatically short of the mark, usually because they have an internally directed rather than externally directed focus. An internally directed focus assumes that the company knows what customers should want and delivers or produces that. This orientation often leads to providing products and services that do not match customer's expectations important features and benefits may be left out and levels of performance may be inadequate. According...