When you think of your customers, do you smile or frown? Your mindset has a direct impact on service. Do you look forward to working with them or dread the thought of what they might ask for next? Customers can and do relate to your attitude, and many will stop doing business with your company after just one poor service experience.
From the buyer experience standpoint, companies tend to prioritize product strategy or building market share by providing the best product available. Although it is critical to have a product worth selling, customers demand great service to back it up.
Imagine going to a new restaurant that is all the rave and sitting in anticipation of a wonderful dining experience. You read the menu like it is a new bestseller. Service is slow, so you read it again. Several waiters whisk by, but none stop to introduce themselves or let you know it will be a couple of minutes. Time passes, and frustration builds. Finally, someone approaches and asks if you are ready to order.
At this point, you have read the entire menu 20 times, but you are excited to hear the specials, just in case. After an exhaustive sigh, the waiter gives you a lackluster recitation of what is not on the menu. You order. And then wait some more. When the meal finally arrives, it is even more delicious than you initially anticipated. Great aroma, delicious flavor, and beautiful presentation. But now your drink is empty and never refilled.
You finish the meal and wait some more while the remaining food on the plate is crusting over. When the waiter finally comes, he just drops the bill and runs, never asking if you need anything more. You pull out your payment quickly, but that waiter has already disappeared again. On the way home, are you thinking that you can’t wait to go back? Of course not! And what are you going to tell the next person about that new restaurant?
The product, though wonderful, is only part of what the customer expects and deserves. Now, imagine that the product and the service are matched. The success of your business depends on it.
