WASFAA - Western Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

December 2001/January 2002

Online Publication

What a customer wants or expects is not always as easily identified as what they need, and their wants are rarely clearly stated.

Featured Articles...
You Know What the Customer Needs, But What
Do They Want?: A New Twist on an Old Rule
Joyce Schaben, National Student Loan Program Training Manager

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." It's a simple, straightforward saying that's been around forever - but is it true? You're probably thinking, of course it's true, after all it is the golden rule! Taken literally, it means treating everyone the same way you like to be treated. For example, if you are task-oriented, you want to focus on business. You will generally jump right to the task at hand and forget to take time for a personal greeting or exchange. It's an indication of the way you want to be treated - but it's not how everyone wants to be treated. Many people may want and need that personal greeting or exchange to build a feeling of trust. Many of those people may be your customers.

What do customers need?
One of the keys to creating satisfied customers is knowing not only what they need, but also what they expect, what they want, and then responding appropriately. Needs are obvious - customers usually either need information or they need you to do something. They'll usually tell you what they need, but occasionally they don't know. In this situation, the art of asking specific and probing questions is invaluable. Good customer service is helping the customer figure out what they need and then helping them with an appropriate solution.

What do customers want?
What a customer wants or expects is not always as easily identified as what they need, and their wants are rarely clearly stated. One list of what customers want includes:

Solutions to problems
Fast delivery
Quality
Personal assistance
A sense of commitment

It's no surprise customers want their problem solved, or that they expect fast delivery and quality. Everyone expects these things, and they are easily measured.

Customers know when a problem is solved, if it's done quickly, and if it's done right. However, personal assistance and a sense of commitment are more abstract, and harder to measure. The customer is in charge of the measurement, and they'll be the ones to determine if you met their expectations. So it's important to become an expert at reading your customers, identifying what they want, and meeting their expectations.

You can read the manual but can you read your customers?
Solving a customer's problem quickly and correctly is easier to define and often easier to deliver. Generally, there are standard procedures and a manual of rules and guidelines for meeting customer needs. Reading a customer's wants is not as easy, but it's not rocket science, either. It's actually very basic and goes to the core of delivering excellent customer service - simply listening to and observing your customer. Pay attention to how they communicate and mirror the same style. If they're on task, you're on task. If they take time for a personal greeting, then you take the time. Whether they talk fast or more deliberately, match their pace. If they're concerned, show empathy and be equally, if not more, concerned. It's your job to make them comfortable, which shows respect and commitment and, in the end, builds trust.

Creating satisfied customers.
In short, if you take care of the task at hand, you'll take care of the customer's needs. But taking care of what the customer wants, and expects, is about taking care of the person. If, in addition to solving their problem and taking care of the need, the customer also feels you are concerned, then you've done what the customer wants- you've met their human need. If you don't take time to do this for customers, they will become indifferent. And an indifferent customer will change loyalty at the slightest invitation. Taking time to create satisfied customers means they'll be as committed to you as you are to them.

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