A quick trip to any museum not
only provides an interesting picture of yesteryear, it reveals an instructive
barometer on the ways we have changed.
What would go in a Service Museum and what would it tell us about the
ways customers have changed?
In the not too distant past,
retail stores had sales clerks on the floor (not just at the register), grocery
stores had bakers, elevators had operators, gas stations had a mechanic, and
mail-order catalogues were all-purpose and not specialty. Stores had layaway plans and returns clerks;
banks had signature loans. Doctors made
house calls and treated whatever malady they encountered.
What has changed? Obviously, there has been a dramatic push
toward self-service. But, there has also
been a swing toward reliance on specialists.
We often hear “we don’t carry that item, check with…” or, “I need to
refer you to…” or, “you might look it up on-line.”
As customers are unable to “take
care of it myself” and are forced to deal with an expert or specialist, their
standards of service excellence go up and out.
That means customers assume competence of every expert and assume expert
in every service provider.
What steps
are you taking to make all front line employees the smartest, best resourced,
most empowered service providers in the neighborhood?
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