Perception Gap

A notable difference among the customers’ perceptions and the perception of the owner is known as perception gap. One can say that it is the evaluation of the marketplace that how other than management people think about the product. This could include the general awareness of the brand, quality, supplier performance etc. In addition to providing a detailed view of what and how the various external constituents perceive an organization, a series of recommended strategies will be developed that are designed to “close” the gap between management’s perceptions and what the marketplace is really thinking.

Once the marketplace’s perceptions of a company’s products and services are ascertained, they are “compared” to those perceptions that are “held” by the senior management team of the company. Invariably there is a major “gap” between what the marketplace thinks and management’s perception of what the marketplace “thinks.” This perception gap is often the prime source for ill-conceived strategies and inappropriate actions, resulting in less than desirable results. Unless this “gap” is closed, the company will never be able to achieve its maximum potential.

Many researches revealed that in order to manage the perception gap is actually improving the risks associated with the brand. Other words it is a brand reputation management process to identify these gaps. Reputation management process begins with issues audit a candid, comprehensive look at the vulnerabilities and opportunities a company faces. In order to improve the perception gap it is necessary to work on the communication. Some basic things to avoid in this communication process are as:

• Lack of openness from company side regarding customer complaints.
• Delay in notification to the public in terms of new researches in process.
• Avoid premature over-reassurance in absence of authentic data.
• Don’t create "Information vacuums" for customers.
• Failure to rectify error on the alarming side in services associated with the products.
• Repeated bombastic and inaccurate statements about the catastrophe being nearly solved.