As a business leader, it is your responsibility to make sure that your employees deliver the highest level of service to your customers. Therefore, you should know that when it comes to customer service, there is good news and bad news. The bad news is, customer service is pretty lousy. The good news is, the opportunities are fantastic for those businesses willing to improve customer service, and there is no limit to how much progress you can make-if you understand certain concepts.

There are basically three factors that distinguish businesses from one another:

• How they price their products and professional services
• The quality of those products and services
• The service provided (the way they do business with their customers)

Customers can find many similar products and professional services at comparable prices. Also, trying to distinguish between levels of quality can be very difficult because of the focus on quality improvement in manufacturing over the past ten years. It is service that has the most room for improvement and creating a competitive advantage. Too often, people confuse the services a company offers with the quality of service provided.

There's a difference between SERVICE and SERVICES.

Valet parking at a hotel, financial services at a bank, delivery by a retailer, and safety inspections by public utilities are examples of services provided. Simply put, services are the "stuff' that businesses offer their customers. Service is the quality measure of how we deliver the "stuff." Service, however, is a people dimension. It has to do with attitude, enthusiasm, responsiveness, concern, courtesy, caring, reliability, helpfulness, etc., that people bring to their job in the delivery of the "stuff' for which they are responsible. Great services without great service from the frontline people can leave a bad memory and open a door for your competition.

Don't satisfy--Create a positive service story

A business can no longer afford to just "satisfy" their customers. You must strive to exceed customers' expectations and impress them in ways which ensure that they see the difference in how they are treated by your employees. The kind of service for which customers are willing to pay extra, that earns their loyalty, their repeat business, their cooperation, and their word-of-mouth praise is noticeably BETTER, FASTER, AND DIFFERENT. A company's service reputation is shaped by first hand experiences as well as from stories from others. Strong opinions about a business are easily developed solely from word- of-mouth experiences. In fact, customers will leave your business with one of three impressions, or stories to tell-no story, a positive story or a negative story. If your business meets a customer's expectation, there will be no story. If you fail to meet expectations, there will be a negative story. But if your business exceeds expectations, a positive story will be generated.

Stories told by credible sources (family, friends, business associates, etc.) can make quite an impression, especially if those stories are related with enough specifics. Everyone in your business must realize that their role is to use every customer contact as an opportunity to create a story that customers tell to others. This is true for internal service providers, as well as those who deal with the paying customer. Elimination of the "S" word (satisfy) must be the goal of every one in your business. To compete in business these days and win, a pro-active customer service philosophy must be in place-one that will create positive and astounding customer service stories.

Your employees already know how to smile and how to be friendly. They need to be taught what good service is and why it is important; they need to understand how customer service helps your business and creates job security for them. And if your employees believe their work has value to your business, that smile will come out. Free.

Great service pays off

Often the results of customer service training are hard to measure effectively. "Sales are up, but is that because of changes in the market or did customer service training make a difference?" Tough question. But one thing we do know; the financial returns for businesses achieving uniqueness in service are significantly higher than for those companies that do not have that reputation.

Businesses leaders that understand the importance of having a pro- active customer service philosophy and are willing to educate their employees in principles of good service, stand to beat the competition, make more money and win.