Service is a dazzling or, more aptly put, overused term: from self-service to maintenance service, luxury service, service waiting point, to word creations like "fecal service," we encounter the most diverse interpretations.
So what is service?
And what is special about service? Service is like performing arts: it is not material, it is always unique, it arises in interaction with the customer, it is perceived completely differently on an individual basis, and it lives through communication. A mistake cannot simply be "repaired" and undone. Therefore, an employee who addresses the customer by the wrong name leaves a bad taste. If the repair of a high-quality bag drags on for weeks, the joy of owning the most beautiful bag fades, and without warmth at the reception, even a magnificent lobby is worth little. A bad service film cannot simply be rewound and restarted with a different script. Outstanding service should ideally be perfect on the first attempt. This alone has always made service a special challenge. Now, additional challenges arise. We live in a world where products are becoming more similar and the digital world is encroaching on the material world. The boundary between product and service is disappearing. Today's customer is as autonomous, informed, critical, and selective as never before. For companies, every touchpoint becomes a test. If the service is not right, the customer will leave or express their dissatisfaction publicly. Both hurt, cost money, and damage reputation. For example, I recently received a personal email from my IT provider with an offer to extend my virus protection. I promptly accepted it and added in my reply that I had another problem with my PC and urgently needed a solution. No response. The answer did not fit the script, and apparently, anything beyond the script was not possible. Individualized service has become the most important differentiation tool. It creates a connection between the product and the customer and makes a real difference. Why? Marketing with a broad brush no longer works. People have a deep need to be noticed. The desire to feel seen, heard, and understood. The customer of the future wants to speak on an equal footing with a company, and insists that the company listens to them. They are not interested in what marketing departments imagine for them, and they do not want to be put off by outsourced service departments. They want companies to deliver exactly what they truly desire – or even better: what they would have wished for if they had thought of it themselves. This can only be achieved with empathetic employees – professionals with heart and mind. Empathy combined with kindness has a stunning effect. It creates magical moments and is the best way to gain customer trust. With kindness, we express commitment and goodwill. We reach people and open up the possibility to positively influence even the most difficult situations. And only with empathy can we understand the other person's perspective, act courteously, and draw the exact right solution and communication from our quiver. For maximum quality of encounter in that moment and an enthusiastic customer. However, employees need space and not a tight corset that suffocates them. "Acting is reacting" – this is a wisdom from the world of theater. The same applies to service. There should be no rigid script for excellent service that employees have to recite. Such a thing suffocates any warmth under the weight of artificial formality. Successful service is always guided by empathy. More about our Top 100 speaker Sabine Hübner can be found HERE: https://www.speakers-excellence.de/redner/sabine-huebner-kundenorientierung.html
