Blame it on Disney or Nordstrom
or Zappo’s.com. The yardstick for
determining what “good service” means has been stretched. Customers view your “answering the phone in
three rings” as not as fast as FedEx.
They see your pleasant front line as “not as enthusiastic as
Disney.” Your return policy is held up
against Nordstrom or Amazon.com. And, suddenly
it seems the bar has been raised beyond reach; especially as the big boss is
demanding you do more and more with less and less. What is a concerned service provider to do?
Don’t take a linear view of the
yardstick; take an illogical perspective.
Go for “different” not “more than.”
If it takes a bit longer to answer the phone, but the person on the
other end is funny or interesting or instructive, the brief wait time is
quickly erased from the customer’s memory bank.
If the front line was particularly compassionate or fun to talk with,
you might make plain old enthusiasm seem rather ordinary. Reach the checkout counter of Dallas garden
center Nicholson-Hardie and you can pet one of two big calico cats
(appropriately named Nick and Hardie) sprawled across the counter with business
cards proclaiming them “house cats.” Do
you think their patrons talk about courtesy or cats?!
What can you do to make your
service different, not just “better than.” Enchanting trumps enhanced in
today’s experience economy. Go for
imaginative, not just improved!
Comments