This truth has created a climate in which companies that are interested in providing excellent customer service are forced to focus on continuous improvement. In today's market, a company not engaged in ongoing improvement will be viewed by customers as a company on the decline.

Therefore, rapid and continuous improvement is no longer an option--it is necessary for survival. Also, failure to involve all employees in ongoing improvements and service innovations on a regular basis is inviting disaster.

Continuous service improvement is a core value of successful companies. Any successful improvement effort must be a program with no beginning and no end. For example, if you provide your employees with customer service training, make sure they understand that the program doesn't end when the training is over, but that it is an ongoing improvement initiative. If employees perceive a beginning and an end to your improvement programs, many will simply "wait them out" and never get involved.

Jan Carlson, president of Scandinavian Airlines, shows his people and customers that he is committed to service improvement by encouraging his employees to improve one percent in every area, every day (rather than improve 100 percent in a few areas). If employees agree to make one improvement (the one percent factor) every week and you have 500 employees, you have 26,000 improvements in a year.

Managers who are committed to continuous improvement will get their employees to develop and implement new service improvement ideas that improve present performance levels. The Japanese had it right: Kaizen or continuous improvement.