The Real and Perceived Needs of Customers

More than five years ago now, I wrote a short post making the case that Teachers are in the Customer Service Business. 

Building on that idea, I would further argue that customer service ought to be a way of life, not the contrived attendance to a company (or school) policy. Providing good customer service simply means discovering what the customer needs and then meeting that need. It really is that simple. Nevertheless, there are important contingencies to consider. 

One of those contingencies—to use Aristotle’s line of thinking that there are real and perceived goods—is considering that the customer inevitably has real and perceived needs. It is the job of a customer service agent (i.e., teacher, service member, employee, etc.) to discover the real needs of the customer and not to merely meet the perceived need.

By way of example, let’s change the metaphor for a moment. Suppose a customer comes into a hardware store looking for a new blade for his saw. The perceived need might be a sharper saw blade that cuts better; whereas, the real need might be a stack of boards cut to a certain length. The real need is not a new saw blade, but a more efficient way of getting his boards cut to the desired length. 

Moreover, there is usually an additional need to consider, the need behind the certain-length-of-board need—the end for which the customer wants those boards cut to a certain length (e.g., an addition on the house for the new baby that’s coming in a few months). 

See, good customer service focuses on the customer’s concern for the well-being and comfort of his newest family member, not merely on the new saw blade. While the resultant difference may not seem immediately apparent in the utility of the matter (the customer still came to the store for a new saw blade, after all), the shift in focus by the store clerk (the customer service agent) will make all the difference in the world to the customer.

To return to the original point—that a teacher is in the customer service business—now consider a similar scenario where a customer in search of a new saw blade becomes a student in search of help understanding his math assignment.