Are standards for service increasing or decreasing? From our experience, the answer might depend on which industry, geography, or company you're dealing with.
However, if your organization considers lowering its quality of service, we'd suggest that you risk doing it at your peril. With the Internet making it easier to locate new providers, customers have more freedom than ever to change suppliers for any reason they choose.
Lower levels of service excellence is one of the top reasons that customers migrate to a new provider However, when you are good, people will notice. When you are excellent, they will rave.
Below are six steps that you can take to continue to raise your own standards of excellence. These steps will make it easier to stand out, be noticed, and have greater levels of success and satisfaction.
What You Can Do
1. Get a current check on performance.
Talk to those you serve, whether your family, coworkers, or customers. Find out from them how well you are doing in meeting their expectations. Listen to their feedback. Don't justify your current performance or blame others. Simply listen.
2. Determine the standard customers want.
Again, ask your customers or those you serve for their input. Listen to their needs, wants and hopes.
3. Determine the standard you want.
Remember that customer expectations may not be very high based on past experience with your organization or your competitors. Take their feedback and ideas into account, but remember that it is your responsibility to set the level of excellence you want to reach. Set the bar as high as you wish.
4. Under promise and over deliver.
Taking the first three steps will heighten awareness and likely raise expectations immediately. As you work to develop and implement your standards, remember that you can reach your goal in small steps. Make promises based on your current capacity, not your fondest wish. Make the promise. Deliver more than promised. Then raise the level of your promise a bit. Steady and slow wins the race - and remember it won't take long to leave those you are racing with behind.
5. Measure performance.
You've set new standards for yourself. The only way to reach them and maintain them is to measure your performance against those standards. Depending on the standards you are setting this may be very simple or quite complex. Don't make the measurement more difficult than necessary, but remember to measure.
6. Ask "what's not excellent?"
This question will help you continue to find ways to improve your standards and delivery. Ask this question of yourself, of your teammates, and of other interested parties.
It is clear that these steps have obvious application for serving customers better. While I encourage you to consider their applications to customer service, I also hope you will consider using them in other areas of your organization. It's time to raise the bar. It's time to set new standards. Standards won't raise themselves; we must raise them consciously and consistently. The steps outlined above will help you turn excellence into a competitive advantage.
