“Service is about the experience and value you create for someone else” – Uplifting Service, Ron Kaufman

In his book Ron mentions six levels of service which I’ll cherry pick and paraphrase as:

1. Criminal: Breaks a service promise, violates even minimum expectations

2. Basic: Disappointing, late, slow, incomplete, or impolite

3. Expected: Nothing special, your customer might come back to you but only if there are no better options

4. Desired: gives people what they value in the manner they desire, brings people back

5. Surprising: Something special, more than expected, attracts a following and makes you stand out from the crowd

6. Unbelievable: Acts of deeply passionate service providers and organisation that pride themselves on delivery of extraordinary service.

Reflecting on the service I have received from any number of service providers I cast an eye over where I felt these service levels had been distributed in my experience. I can honestly say ‘Unbelievable’ and ‘Surprising’ were the exception although I have witnessed some instances of organisations going above and beyond for their customers. ‘Criminal’ is certainly in there having experienced one major Telco cancelling an order and then resubmitting it to avoid a service breach and extend/renew their time to deliver (if not criminal then certainly unethical). But most of the service sits in ‘Basic’ – disappointing, late, slow, incomplete or impolite. If we truly value our customers and believe in delivering an end-to-end value chain, then we certainly should be striving to provide ‘Expected’ and ‘Desired’ customer service.

For delivery to internal customers a large part of the equation is the discussion around expectations and how they are reflected in the service provider’s financial modelling of capacity, capability, and delivery (insourced or outsourced). Discerning strategic advantage as a function of the budgeting process is a prime opportunity for the executive to invest in delivering value distinction for their organisation in the customer service/support domains.

If your organisation is looking to lift customer service within your operations and support teams, or needs assistance in modelling and baselining service vs. cost, I would love to discuss how we can assist in this area and can be contacted directly on 0409285045 or owenflynn@zenitil.com.au