For National Customer Service Week, an insightful piece by Sam Fiorella, desk.com partner and strategist at Sensei Marketing, which reminds us that the world looks very different through the eyes of your customer.

Your customer does not see how unrealistic their demands are. They see how you respond.

Your customer does not see your profit and loss statement, nor do they care. They see their shrinking wallet and what you plan on doing to help them with that.

Your customer does not see the price of a product. They see the value it gives them.

Your customer does not see the volumes of transactional and demographic data you’re collecting. They see that you’ve offered a product that you’re overstocked on rather than a product they need.

Your customer does not see the 754 unread emails in your inbox. They see your attempt to reach out and just say “hello”.

Your customer does not see the lack of communication between the sales guy that he signed a contract with and the service team charged with delivering on his promise. She does see if her expecations were met or not.

Your customer does not see your service provider's outage. Not does she care. She sees the impact it's had on her business and what you're doing about it.

Your customer does not see the high-resolution, professionally photographed image gallery on your Web site. They see how long it takes to find the information they want to access.

Your customer does not see the frequency of conversations you have. They see the intent of what you say.

Your customer does not see the amazing customer service track record you boast with your many other customers.  They see the one single bad experience they had with your customer service team.

Your customer does not see your brand strategy. They see their customer experience with your brand.

Your customer does not see your finance team. They see the inaccurate invoice they just received.

Your customer does not see your assembly line. They see the quality of the product they received.

Your customer does not see you when you’re busy...get it?

What does your customer see?

Sam Fiorella is a partner and strategist at Sensei Marketing. Sensei is a marketing firm that helps grow business value by improving the health of customer relationships. Read the original post and more of Sam's insights at Sensei Blogs. For more great customer strategies, visit the Desk.com blog.