I like this comment, left by a Tekedia Mini-MBA member who has registered for our Feb 2022 edition; we give access to many materials ahead, including my exclusive books. In Tekedia Mini-MBA, we teach the necessity of brands to pursue perception, not just needs and expectations of customers. In Harvard, I have also written on that construct, making the point that fandom comes when companies turn their customers into fans, and that only happens when we meet them at perception level, well beyond their needs.
On “The Dangote System: Techniques for Building Conglomerates” book, our member left this one:
“After reading and listening to the presentation, I had to go check again the meaning of perception. “The act or faculty of perceiving, or apprehending by means of the senses or of the mind; cognition; understanding. immediate or intuitive recognition or appreciation, as of moral, psychological, or aesthetic qualities; insight; intuition; discernment: an artist of rare perception”. My conclusion, perception in business, is the ability to think for and beyond the customer needs and expectations. Now, I need to work with great intuition. Thank you prof.”
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Comment on LinkedIn Post
Comment #1: You speak of literal perception whereas Prof is using the term metaphorically to refer to something that people want/need but hadn’t imagined until it was presented to them.
Comment #2: Perception Demand Leadership entails demonstrating through a feat of Innovative Genius that you understand the solutions to the needs of your customers more than they themselves do.
People don’t really know what they want, but they know they want it anyway and they want it now! Henry Ford said that if he had asked people to tell him what they wanted, they would have said “a faster horse,” but Ford has uncommon perspective on the solution and when it was engineered into existence as the famous “Model T” through a stroke of Innovative Genius, the people knew at once the equation to their mobility needs could not have been resolved any better. Also when Steve Jobs engineered the iPhone into existence through a feat of Innovative Genius, people knew at once their communication couldn’t get any smarter.
It’s relatively useless to ask your customers what they want because they simply don’t know. It’s your job as an Innovator to figure it out and demonstrate it through what the Professor has christianed Perception Demand Leadership.
Comment 3: Expectation comes before perception in the customer experience journey in business management.
Expectation is what customer visualizes to experience before using a service or product. A customer can expect to arrive a destination early enough to carry out some transactions. Perception is formed by user/customer during the actual experience. And this experience informs the customer possible conclusion on whether to repeat or not.
Therefore, if the customer’s expectation is greater than the perception formed at the end of the service, the service is said to be poorly rendered. On the other hand, If the perception is greater than the expectation, the service is said to be of quality.
It is wise for businesses to always examine and bridge operations gaps within the customer and company domains to get to the perception level of customer satisfaction to retain customers.
Thank you, Prof.
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