7 reasons your service may be unspectacular service, and to make it spectacular

I am in the middle of a whirlwind tour of Australia. Every day is a different plane (sometimes more than one plane). Everything is so – the same.

Your industry might be like the airline industry. Everything may seem to be the same. It’s so hard to win in the airline service game, yet so easy lose.

 

Here are 7 reasons why.

1) The product is hidden.

Sure you can see the plane, but you don’t see the team of people who make flight possible. From schedulers to re-fuelers, they all have a critical role in your service experience, yet they are hidden.

Same for banks and postal services.

2) Everyone uses the same raw materials.

Everyone uses the same planes, and the same catering, and same pilots. Most low cost airlines operate using the Boeing 737, and long haul operators use a 737 or an A380. Not much choice there.

Same for bakers and consultants.

3) The process is controlled by regulators.

The regulators dictate how many staff you need on board and the places where you can fly. Not much choice there either.

Your industry may its own rules.

Same for liquor stores and TV stations.

4) The process has little room for originality.

Everyone has a similar food trolley, smile and service disposition. Some airlines try to funk it up a little, but they are doing the same thing.

Same for shopping malls.

5) The product is a conduit, a transitional purchase towards buying something else.

The flight is necessary to get to a destination as wrapping paper is necessary to conceal a gift. Rarely is the flight the product itself (unless you are flying over the South Pole on a New Years excursion).

Same for online stores.

6) The product is a consumable with no residual value.

Once you land, it is done. Whether you travel 1st class or economy you arrive at the same place. There is no residual memory or asset.

Same for car fuel stations.

7) People don't want it.

Most people would rather wave a magic wand a teleport straight to their destination than consume your product.

Same for Doctors and Chemists?

 

Now what?

The airlines have a product no-one wants with no residual value, and no way to differentiate. So why even bother with service?

Airlines should obsess with service for exactly those 7 reasons.

Most customers know what to expect. When airlines get it wrong there is nowhere to hide. Lost bags? Knarly staff? Late arrivals? These are the moments that define the airline. By either dealing with them well, or preventing them altogether.

Those extreme moments define most brands.

When an airline does not offer this predictable service, it is slated as being a poor service airline.

1) Reaching the minimum standard every single time is tough.

2) When the minimums are not reached, it is the real opportunity for the brand to be defined.

How was a lost bag handled? A delayed flight? Seat assignments spreading a family over a plane?

3) The paradox is that because service standards are so tough to achieve, standing out just a little gets exaggerated and you look like a star.

4) Brand and Soul are important. Building a Brand persona can create a differentiation, and if the staff can live the soul of the Brand, the differentiation will live and thrive.

Is your business really that different to the airline industry?

Seat the extremes and don’t underestimate the power of constant delivery.

Delivering unspectacularly consistency is the building block of a spectacular brand.

 

Why most loyalty programs are M.A.D. (in the nuclear war sense)

Many loyalty programs are M.A.D. but not in the mental sense, but the cold war sense. Many readers will know that M.A.D stands for Mutually Assured Destruction.

Nuclear powers will not initiate a war against each other because it will assure their own destruction from retaliation. So the immense nuclear powers have cancelled each other out.

Loyalty programs have become so prevalent they too cancel each other out.

If you and all your competitors have a loyalty program, which will the consumer use, the one with the biggest benefits or the easiest one to use?

Loyalty programs have created a new field of competition. You no longer compete on just product, price, place, and people, but also programs. So all of a sudden it all just got harder.

If the product, prices, and place of business are the same and the loyalty programs similar. It leaves one place for competition. People. And people = service.

The ultimate loyalty program is based on delivery. All you have to do is deliver what the customer wants - every single time. There is no need to deliver more, and certainly not less. But deliver to the customers what they want and expect every single time to create loyalty.

Loyalty built on service is lasting, but when built on a scheme it will only last as long as the scheme.

 

One thing which is more important than Sales training

Some things are more important than Sales techniques. Many of my Mystery Shopping clients sped countless hours teaching each employee simply sales techniques.

There are the six steps to selling, or the 9 steps the selling, the Friedman method and so on. These usually involve some form of closing technique and or up-sell. All completely valid, but there is something even more important.

You have got to know your product.

In the car industry it is knowing the towing capacity, warranty, service intervals and options. In a café it is about having the knowledge to make the product.

In a study completed by my mystery shopping company in 2005, we found that in terms of importance, they chose knowledge over service as follows:

Knowledge 59%

Service 41%

Most selling processes are built of service, but don’t forget knowledge as a more important component.

 

Why you shouldn't always be a leader

Who says we always have to be a leader?  Do appointed leaders even have to lead all the time?

As a child I used to follow certain friends but my mother used to tell me to ‘stop following’.  The same happens in our jobs.  Lead lead lead, is the cry, and we all paradoxically follow in the call to lead.

But following has some advantages. Even now I follow some friends to vacation locations I would never dream of visiting, eating strange foods, meeting different people.  If you always lead, you follow your own path of predictability.

The same applies in business.  Following leaders in your industry or others gives a new perspective.  I follow people such as Matt Church, Seth Godin, and Chris Brogan. In fact, Social Media is built on the concept of ‘following’.

 

Being a leader is no more superior than North is to South. It’s just one f the ways to live your life or career. It’s not the only way.

 

Even appointed leaders have to follow. They have to be humble and listen to a Board, or they have to follow market forces. We all follow, and need to follow at times. Why is it such a bad thing?

 

I agree we all have a time to lead, but we also have a time to follow.