Your Lake-Woebegone Service Value
“SERVICE IS VITAL; OURS IS GOOD!”
Most distributors know/believe this phrase. But, are you living in Lake Woebegone where everyone is above average? We all practice some degree of the “self-enhancement bias”. It’s good for our species’ happiness, sanity and survival.
But, if competitors have “good service” too, what’s the tie-breaker? Isn’t it meeting a “price”? Then, won’t you get commodity returns, and struggle to attract and keep new young talent?
If you want killer-service that delivers faster, profitable growth and attracts talent, then do the following reality-check review.
SERVICE-EXCELLENCE QUESTIONS (Rate Your Company 1-5):
- What are the service metrics that you measure and post daily for all to see?
- How do some of these metrics vary by target: customer and customer niche?
- For your most-net-profitable, customer niche, do all employees know by heart the top 5 most net-profitable accounts and the top 5 most-promising target accounts?
- Can everyone explain by case-story example what a “heroic, extra-service effort” is for best accounts?
- Can all warehouse associates explain how the service metrics economically benefit the customer, the company, their own annual total compensation, as well as job pride, security, and growth?
- What cross-training system exists so that all service metrics are met, even during big order surges or when key folks are absent?
- Do you have money-value guarantees to award in case of service failures?
- What are your estimates for how much better you execute on each service metric in contrast to biggest competitors? (e.g. 10% fewer errors; 5% better fill-rates; etc.)
- How do you know that customers think your service value is clearly the best, and worth rewarding?
- How do you sell your service to make it tangible, get paid for it, and partner key accounts with it?
BE BETTER THAN A CASINO
Gambling games are designed to give the casino a statistical, money-making edge: vigorish or “vig”. Roulette, for example, takes in 5.26% of money bet and empties wallets quickly. Imagine if you were 5% to even 50% better than a biggest competitor on about eight service metrics tuned to a customer niche?
FOR HOW TO ACHIEVE SERVICE EXCELLENCE?
Watch my youtube video clips (average length: 4 minutes) on “nichonomics” at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7A1BDC59447161EE. Go right to #14 of 57.
Read my blog on “The Main Thing” (400 words) at: https://merrifieldact2.com/whats-main-thing-2013/
Then, “just do it”.
CEO, Board Advisor, Market Expansion, Building Automation/HVAC Controls, B2B Distribution
5 年Love it! And in addition to Bruce’s “Service Excellence” points, I’d add “how are you driving customer engagement?” which usually leads to increasing customer loyalty.