How To Deliver Better Service

If you are like most people, you have witnessed and experienced increasingly poor service in much of your daily life, both personal and business.

For the most part, you tolerate it but if reaches a level that you can no longer tolerate, you might go to the extraordinary step of complaining to the person in charge at the time, or you may go to the extreme of writing a letter.

If you are very, very lucky, or dealing with an organization that values hearing about shortcomings so that they can learn from their mistakes, you might receive a letter back.?Maybe an email or a phone call, but don't hold your breath.

Being in the service business myself, I give a lot of thought to what exactly service is. I do this because I seek to understand the concept, because the quality and quantity of service I provide has a direct relationship to revenue, expenses and profits. This is true in almost every organization.

I define service as providing the products the client desires, in the manner they desire it, at a quality level above what they expect. I strive "to do more than is expected."

Do I always achieve this level? The answer is no. It is a goal I strive to achieve.

Sadly, far too many organizations do not even have a definition of what sub par, par, or above par standards of service are. Too many organizations just try to "get by" and hope that things will be "okay."

Increasingly, our economy is that of one of service. Even if a physical product is involved, there is always an element of service involved. Buying a product in a retail store requires that the customer be in contact with the cashier. That exchange can make or break the relationship painstakingly built through expensive advertising and direct mail campaigns to draw a prospect into the store.

Even in places where a person can purchase something by using "self checkout" the element of service exists if the machine calculating the exchange does not work or it does not work at all.?

Every exchange between an organization and those that want to do business with it is a "moment of truth" and most organizations fail far too many of these every day.

What stops us from doing better? We fail to understand that service is a competitive advantage. Instead, service is seen as a cost, and because it is an expense, we do whatever we can to reduce it.?

Good service, even great service, does not have to cost a lot of money. It does not necessarily require more people. What is does require, first, is that the organization understands and acknowledges that it needs to provide a higher level of service to those that seek to do business with it.

The second step is to define what service is for the organization. It would be a good start to have each staff member define what acceptable, less than acceptable and exceeding standards of service is. Once definitions exist, management can develop appropriate standards of behavior.?This exercise is going to be an extremely valuable exercise to see who really wants to be working for an organization that seeks to improve the level of service it provides and those who wish for the service level to remain right where it is.?

It is possible for an organization to improve the level of service literally overnight. Small improvements can have tremendous immediate impacts.

Changing a policy that allows people to ignore ringing telephones and allowing them to go into voicemail and the call returned at the leisure of the employee to a policy of requiring that all telephones be answered within two full rings will make an impact quickly on customers used to waiting for a return call.

Ending every transaction with a professional "thank you for doing business with our company" will insure that every client is thanked instead of leaving it to chance. Small changes such as these can have immediate and tremendous positive impacts.?

Third, management has to lead by example, and by setting the standards of behavior. If there are those employed in the organization not willing to step up to this task, those not willing to model appropriate behavior, they should be removed from all supervisory responsibilities.?

In a spirited business environment, improving service can be the best way to build and maintain a strong competitive advantage. It can be accomplished incrementally, inexpensively, and with tremendous positive results. If leadership is open and willing to make changes.

What small changes can you make in how you do business to improve how you serve your clients?

I lead CEO Roundtables to improve planning, performance and profits. I also do one on one coaching for Top Executives. Please reach out to me if you think I can help you.