Bridging the gap between service provision and customer expectations

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to serve as a reminder to all managers that they must understand their customers, from the customers' perspective, and not make assumptions about customer needs. Design/methodology/approach - Customer value discovery workshops are held with undergraduate on-campus students and academic staff at Nottingham Trent University to identify customer values and irritations. Library staff participate in the workshops and vote as they expect their customers to vote. The gaps identified between staff assumptions of customer perceptions of service importance and performance serve as a catalyst for staff engagement in the change process that is necessary to deliver on the value propositions and reduce customer irritations. Findings - Library staff assumptions of customer perceptions are not always accurate. The gaps identified help to engage staff in the change process that is necessary to improve perceptions of value and to reduce irritations. By explicitly addressing the value propositions with the aims of adding value and reducing irritation, student satisfaction with library services, as measured by two independent satisfaction surveys, improves considerably. Research limitations/implications - The research is based on two customer segments of one university library. The research should be repeated after a gap of three-four years to check if the value propositions and irritations have changed in that time. If so, the goals of the library's operational plan would have to change to reflect the new value propositions. Practical implications - A comparison of the Customer Value Discovery methodology with LibQUAL + (TM), which is used internationally, and the Rodski Research Group's method, used in Australia and New Zealand, is given. Originality/value - The Customer Value Discovery methodology is most often used in the commercial sector. This paper explores its potential in the not-for-profit sector in the context of a university library service.