Untitled - Hospitality Maldives

How Much Service is
Too Much Service?
People often ask, ‘What level of service
should we strive to provide? Should we give
“Unbelievable!” service if our customers are
not willing to pay for it?’
My answer is definitely no!
Don’t go to the moon on service if your business
model on the moon doesn’t work. No
sense ‘serving yourself to death’, bending
over backwards but going broke in the process.
You need to determine what level of service
your business can provide, and match that
with what your customers are willing to pay.
Take note: customers rarely put voluntary
limits on their service expectations. That’s
why making clear service agreements is so
important to you…and your customers.
You must communicate clearly what you
promise to provide, and what you are not
promising, too!
The manager of a local Internet Service Provider
(ISP) approached me with this relevant
complaint:
His staff go into customers’ homes and offices
to install modems and communications
software. They train their customers to access
new e-mail accounts and surf the World
Wide Web.
Before his staff can leave, however, officebased
customers start asking about unrelated
hardware compatibility, new software
upgrades and suggestions on how to fix nonworking
printers!
Eager home-based customers insist on help
installing new games and joysticks, debugging
new versions of Windows, even assistance
repairing their children’s Nintendo!
His staff’s explanation that, ‘We are just an
Internet Service Provider, not a computer repair
service’, seem to fall upon deaf ears. As
far as his customers are concerned, ‘You are
the computer people, and we have a computer
problem. Now that you are in our home
or office…fix it!’
One look at his brochure reveals the source
of the problem. It reads: ‘Enter the digital
age! Modernize your life! Capture the computer
advantage!’
Plenty of glittering encouragements to buy,
but no clear and detailed listing of the actual
service promise.
To eliminate the problem, this company must
clarify and specify what services they do provide…and
what services they do not.
For example:
We provide A, B and C.
We do not provide X, Y or Z in the normal
service package.
We can arrange X, Y and Z for you at an additional
charge, or
We have associates who can do X, Y and Z.
Reliable referrals are provided on request.
Key Learning Point
Be sure the service agreements you make
with your customers and internal partners
are complete and clear. Misunderstanding
can lead to disappointment once delivery of
your service is underway.
Action Steps
Check with your customers and staff. Find out
where misunderstanding and disagreements
arise. Then look closely at your proposals,
contracts and service level agreements.
Wherever uncertainty is found, replace it
with accuracy, clarity and understanding.
Note: Don’t use this principle to avoid regularly
upgrading your service agreements.
With technology you may improve the quality
of your service without increasing your costs.
(Your competitors are working on it now.)
Ron Kaufman is an internationally acclaimed educator and motivator for partnerships and quality customer service. He is author of the bestselling “UP Your
Service!” and founder of “UP Your Service College”. Visit http://www.UpYourService.com for more such Customer Service articles, subscribe to his Newsletter, or
to buy his bestselling Books, Videos, Audio CDs on Customer Service from his secure Online Store.
You can also watch Ron live or listen to him at http://www.RonKaufman.com