What does this mean: How do you want your consumers to perceive you?

[blah~]

I'm working on a business plan project for my economics class.

[Veronica White]

It means: How do you want your customers to look at your company.

[Nature Lover]

A satisfied consumer/customer is a sure future customer, since he/she will remember you can be trusted in fulfilling their purchasing needs.

On the other hand, an unsatisfied customer will not return. Worst still will be the verbal reputation he/she will spread around about your business. How often do you hear "I will never do business again with that place. They can not be trusted and tried or did deceive me by not standing behind their stated promise when I made my purchase!".
This comment is typically heard in ref. to car dealerships (lol).
When you loose a customer, you also risk loosing your business reputation. On the other hand, a satisfied customer will sure encourage more business even without costing you a penny in advertising, reason why some companies are very successful even in poor economic times (commonly known as word of mouth).

[Holly]

What sort of impression or image do you want to portray to your customers

[ZombieSharpei]

Customer feedback can provide you with valuable insight into how your business is perceived by your customers and what you can do to improve your marketing. In addition, you can also use customer feedback to focus on building better customer loyalty. Here is what you need to know about how to improve your marketing through customer perception-

•Check what the online perception of your business really is - One of the first steps that you should take in learning about customer perception is to check out what your online reputation is. You can search online simply by using your business name. It is also important to check out customer review sites. While all the news might not be good it will give you a place to start to improve your marketing by improving your customer’s perception of your business. Don’t forget to check out social media networking sites where many consumers are exchanging opinions of different types of businesses.
•Initiate customer feedback - You want to make sure that you are hearing directly from your customers. You can easily do this by posting a question on a social media networking page. Make sure that the question is clear and concise enough so that you can get the information that you really need to know. However, don’t assume that just getting their answers is enough. You should get involved in the forums that are available to get real first hand knowledge of how your customers and others perceive you.
•Send out customer surveys - Another effective way of getting customer perceptions is by sending out customer surveys. However, you will need to make sure that any customer survey that you send out has well structured questions so that you are getting back information that you can really use. You should also keep in mind that if the survey is not short and concise very few customers will take the time to fill them out. You can send out customer surveys in a number of different ways but online surveys have been found to the most effective and the most widely responded to.
•React to the feedback - There is no reason to go to the trouble of getting cutomer feedback if you are not going to use it. You will need to be able show your customers that you take what they are saying seriously. If they see that you are not even considering what they are saying they will quickly lose trust in your business and move on to another business that they feel will take their needs seriously. It cannot be stressed enough that you must react to the customer feedback or you risk doing serious damage to your business. You can improve your marketing if you base it on responding to customer feedback.
•Use quality control in your marketing - Once you have an idea of what your customers really think about you then you need to make sure that you are improving the quality of your marketing. Nothing should leave your business in terms of any type of marketing that is not a true reflection of how you want your business to be marketed. You should also make sure that your marketing message can be found only in locations where your customers will expect it to be. If you fail to control the quality of your marketing then there it little chance that it will be successful. To be continued in http://www.businessplanwritingservices.net/