What is a service-focused organization?
Is yours a service-focused organization? The answer to this question will give you a measure of how much a service strategy implementation will contribute to your success.
I propose 3 questions to assess the potential impact of the service on your organization:
1. What contributes the most to meeting the needs of your customers: the product you deliver or the service (how do you deliver it)?
Most companies deliver a mix of products and services. No product reaches the customer alone, and services are generally accompanied by tangible products. Let's see an example:
Gastronomy: you deliver food (products) but diners do not go to a restaurant just to taste delicious dishes. Generally these culinary products are the perfect excuse to live those experiences that customers seek to accompany with a delicious plate of food: celebrate an anniversary, spend a moment with friends, reach a business agreement, read a book in a moment of relaxation…
What contributes the most to the positive experience of these clients? The product (food plate) or the service that accompanies it: the environment, the way they are served, the chef's recommendations, the ambient music, the coordination in service times, an interesting history of the origin of that plate…
For the same item, the load of product or service can be very different and create totally different experiences for customers. So ask yourself:
- What are the products that you deliver (tangible, the “what”) ?, and What is the service that allows that product to reach the customer in a particular way (intangible, the “how”)?
Does the service burden have an important weight for your clients? If so, that is a plus for a service-focused organization.
2. What is the particular situation of your competitors in relation to the quality of the service they offer?
A few days ago, I was listening in a conference to the CEO of a company that was born as a novel answer for internet event organizations. He said that traditional event organization companies had high costs and lousy customer service.
The market situation was marking a clear opportunity for those who wanted to stand out for an agile, customer-oriented, and at the same time economic service. They did it, and they had a resounding success.
So ask yourself: What service are your competitors providing? Many times the precarious situation regarding the service that is observed around you, can be screaming a valuable opportunity to differentiate yourself in this aspect. Another point in your favor to start a service strategy.
3. Do your clients have a high expectation regarding the service?
Clients will be satisfied if the experience they live meets, or exceeds, their previous expectations. Therefore, it is important to know what those expectations are, and how they are met.
The experiences they have had with other services, or even previous experiences with yours, will mark what they can expect, and then determine their final perception. Also the communication they have received: What are your promises of service? What have your friends, family or other clients told them about what they might receive from your organization?
A client, for example, does not have the same expectation in front of a public service, to which he resigned to waste time, to be walked through different service posts, and even to withdraw without the procedure he came to manage, which if he goes to an internationally renowned private company. In the latter, perhaps he will not tolerate imperfections that, in the public service, he will let pass without flinching. The client is the same, his expectations are different, his demand is different.
So ask yourself: What service expectations do your customers come with?
These three questions can give you an idea of the importance and potential impact that a service strategy will have on your organization.
Service-focused organizations are those that have understood that:
- The service will allow them to offer a differentiated experience to customers, which goes beyond the product (or technical solution) they are delivering, they can anticipate their competitors, who have not yet taken action on the matter, and differentiate themselves in a positive way..They are able to give adequate responses to the increasingly demanding expectations of their clients, who are acquiring multiple experiences, exceeding, and are becoming better informed every day, which gives them an impressive power of decision when making their purchases and contracts..
Is yours a service-focused organization? Do not delay in defining your service strategy, and implement it as soon as possible.
