Article 3.1
How to Define Perfect Service
To compete successfully today, a
company must make or offer not only perfect quality goods with a large choice
of selection, but also have perfect service preferably guaranteed. Determining
what constitutes perfect quality tangibles is difficult, but “perfect service”
can vary with the subjective expectations of customers who often state- “I know
it when I see it.” And, a quality guru statement such as "conformance with
standards" isn't much help either.
To get going in a practical,
productive way, here are some steps that any business can easily take.
1. Define the number-one, targeted segment
of customer to pursue realizing that each segment is apt to have a slightly
different service prescription. If we go to market in one way, but serve
multiple segments, we may over-serve some and under-serve others and lose to
the competitor who out-focuses us. We may eventually serve multiple segments
with flexibly different service formulas, but it is best to take one segment at
a time.
2. Go ask five of these target customers
two questions: “What is good service?” -and when that yields little, ask- “what
kind of frustrating service experiences or policies have you experienced from
us or our competitors?” Then, listen closely to their specific, emotional
stories, because the opposite experiences will be pieces of the perfect service
puzzle.
3. Regardless of the targeted segment, we
will find that all customers are looking for at least four, universal,
measurable standards and four characteristics within the service encounters
that they could have with company employees. Beyond these universal service
needs every customer segment is apt to want one or two, measurable, service
needs peculiar to that segment of customer. Call these service niche
opportunities, and listen for them carefully.
The four universal measures that
everyone is looking for are:
1. Zero errors. The right stuff to the
right place with the right paperwork, etc.
2. 100% on-time-performance. Lead times
and response times will vary with segments, but all customers make plans around
when the goods/services are to be delivered. Don't let them down.
3.
Availability of people to serve and goods to ship. The
fill-rates for goods purportedly in stock must be equal to or superior to the
best competitor's, and we expect 100% fill rates on frequently used
consumables. When customers phone in they don't want: the phone to ring for
long; be put on hold; or have a computer answer which makes cost-cutting sense
but not customer service sense.
4. Heroic recoveries for mistakes with two
measurable dimensions: response time to cure with proper goods or reservice;
and how much compensatory credit is offered to offset their hassle cost.
The four
characteristics that we all look for when someone serves us are:
1. Genuine tender loving care(TLC),
because our money pays the server's wages, and we all have an inexhaustible
need for positive strokes. We don't want thinly disguised contempt (TDC) for
bothering the person or asking a dumb question.
2. Answers to our problems. We prefer to
wait for an enthusiastic beginner who cares to hustle and find out instead of
getting a quick answer from a veteran with TDC.
3. Spontaneous and flexible people who can
take care of micro-problems and adjustments on the spot instead of smiling
robots who say “that isn't my job or prerogative, you will have to go
elsewhere.”
4. Heroic recoveries with a – “no problem;
it is our fault; so sorry; here is how I (not another department) will solve
this now!”- approach.
Beyond the universals look for the
service niches. By example, Federal Express created one in the overnight letter
business. After many years, UPS has finally matched the unconditional guarantee
of it is there by 10AM the next day or it is free, but they still aren't as
user-friendly on the pick-up end. No one has yet to match Domino's 30 minute
response time for a hot “satisfactory” pizza. Both firms have found a niche for
speed and reliability. Many firms still look for product niches to fill;
shoulder the market development risk; and then get swamped by flawless,
inexpensive clones. Service niches are far more durable these days than product
niches. Listen for these important, segment-specific needs, and fill them.
WHAT TO DO FIRST
Give all the employees an assignment
to read this article and come to scheduled meetings prepared to discuss:
1. Personal experiences as consumers when
they received either excellent or poor service using the four measurables and
four encounter guidelines to describe the episode.
2. Then based on their service experiences
- would they go back; would they suggest to a friend to use the supplier; how
much more would they pay for excellent service; and do they think that our
customers feel any different about our service.
3. If they would like to be part of the
service excellence solution at the firm, what must the team do to start moving
towards being able to offer an unconditional guarantee for at least zero errors
and on-time performance.
CONCLUSIONS
For most firms “good
service” is “no one complained today,” which is a disguised disaster. In the
restaurant business it is estimated that for every complaint, 19 other
customers quietly left perhaps never to come back and to bad-mouth the
restaurant's quality to many friends. With equally excellent goods and mediocre service, a firm is forced to compete
on price and terms - a losing battle with too many competitors for flat demand.
If the employees can: take the
definitions in this article and root them in personal stories that they can
remember; discuss the economic and job security/growth implications of
retaining appreciative customers who will pay a little more and steer others to
the firm; get excited about the goal and selling power of an unconditional
guarantee; and buy into wanting to be part of the solution; then the firm can
start to measure error rates, on-time performance, etc, and start experimenting
with ways to improve.
ÓMerrifield Consulting Group, Inc., Article 3.1
