You don't have to be in a service industry to apply service excellence. Anyone with clients, customers, partners and funders should be thinking about how their service is received and what that says about them as a business.
Here, Andrew Marsh, Vistage chair for the North East and Northumberland, talks about how his cohorts are approaching getting it right, along with how effectiveness differs from efficiency.
“In our Vistage groups we have CEO’s, decision makers and business owners from a range of different industries and sectors, but nevertheless, one of our resounding conversations is service excellence. Not only what it means but how you achieve it.
“By definition, service excellence is not just about delivering high luxury-level service. Service excellence refers to all service providers and those in contact with people to consistently meet (and even strive to exceed) customers’ expectations. That doesn’t mean it is about striving to our service an organisation that isn’t a direct comparison, for example a local shop isn’t ever expected to be a Harrods. Service excellence should be matched to both ability and whether it is the best your customers can expect, what you can afford and want you physically want to commit to.
“Service excellence makes your customers feel valued, and word of mouth will spread as positive experiences provide a great platform for people to have confidence to share about you. It becomes a magnet attracting the right customers and also helping with recruitment.
“We can all remember a moment when we thought, “well that was amazing, I’ll have more of that please!” And how many of us have returned to or recommended that company? Statistics say 78% but I go with Hot Spot statistics of 93% of customers are likely to make repeat purchases with companies who offer excellent customer service.
“My Vistage cohorts enjoyed a session from Mark Robb recently, who focuses on helping individuals be the best version of themselves possible. Specialising in increasing human & organisational performance, Mark has extensive experience creating and delivering Leadership development and change management solutions. In the session Mark looked at unlocking potential, instigating change, and fostering excellence.
“Our conversations lead to following thoughts of having efficient people in a team, who get the job done quickly and tick every box, is great. But is their efficiency, effective? This is something we ask ourselves at every Vistage meeting – how effective are we currently being?
“You can get everything done, but has it had an effect that is positive? Have you achieved the desired results for yourself or your customer? Is there success because of your actions? Many companies win awards for this kind of service excellence, nominated by themselves or others, for great achievements. I judge the Great British Entrepreneur Awards and it is astounding the lengths some companies go to provide service excellence.
“A great book to read is The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker. In his book Peter stated that “efficiency is doing things right, effectiveness is doing the right thing.” I actually believe that effectiveness is simply the ability to produce a better result, one that delivers more value or achieves a better outcome.
“Mark believes that a lack of emotional connection creates an attitude of indifference and if we are indifferent can we be truly creating those better, more valuable results? A satisfied customer is not a loyal customer
. To make them loyal you need to go above and beyond into a true excellence that they know only you and your brand can deliver to them. Something they’ve never had before. And something they will crave again and hold up as a benchmark to all other service they receive.
“The levels go from basic and just fine, to what is expected but what we should be all striving for is that WOW! And in a world of rising expectations, we truly have to smash it out of the park for that WOW response.
“And if you are striving for that WOW moment for every customer, you have to be prepared to be consistent. If you set the bar, you have to keep that bar high. That is the only way to drive sales and profit. So, in a nutshell, once you hit the top bar, you have to always be thinking about what is next
what else can your company do to be disruptive in your industry as to what customers expect? And are your efforts going in the right way? Do they really need the things that cost chunks of money such as accounts or relationship managers, or free services and gifts. Is there a better way to hit their needs and exceed their expectations, that they will value more?
“The Vistage session was so successful that Mark is back this month for a follow up presentation on understanding service relates to culture, how to measure it and how to keep customers. We are looking forward to it and taking this debate forward.”
Vistage has a video online courtesy of Mark Robb, which you can view by visiting pages.vistage.co.uk/mark-robb-leadershipexcellence.
If you would like to attend as a guest at Mark’s next presentation to Vistage on 15th September, have questions or would like to debate the content of this article for a podcast or video, then do get in touch with Andrew on Andrew.marsh@vistagechair.co.uk