Service Encounters of the Third Kind

by Ron Kaufman

What makes a company successful over the long, long term? What characterizes the service relationship between companies and customers who do business together for decades, even centuries?

One step you can take is to explore your customers' future needs and interests through cultivating "Service Encounters of The Third Kind". But first.

Service Encounters Of The First Kind

In "Service Encounters of the First Kind", your company approaches the customer with the most basic of all customer service questions: "What do you want?"

Your customer replies with equal simplicity, "I want your product "X" by time and date "Y" at your listed price "Z".

Your company's priority and service focus should be clear: "Get the customer's order right, and get it right the first time!"

Campaigns to accomplish this objective are widespread and easy to spot. "100% Right!", "Work Perfect", "Zero Defects" and "Six Sigma Quality" are all examples of slogans companies use to focus their workers on getting the basics right, first time, each and every time.

In this kind of "Encounter", breakdowns in the service delivery system are bad news. They are to be ferreted out, analyzed, problem-solved and, most of all, eliminated. The service system must be streamlined and standardized in every possible way.

Companies that consistently succeed in this undertaking (delivering your product "X" by time and date "Y" at your listed price "Z") earn their reputations in the market as steady and reliable suppliers. This leads, as it should, to customer satisfaction.

Training in these organizations is focused on product knowledge, technical skills, thoroughness, accuracy and adhering to proven procedures.

Marketing consists of powerful efforts to "push" proven products into the market. In these companies, the customer is "sold to".

Looking into the management mindset of such an organization, we frequently find a keen interest in cutting costs, increasing volume and decreasing cycle time.

This "need for speed" is important. Competitors are often closing in with similar products, shorter delivery schedules and identical or even lower prices. In this competitive situation, profit margins are paper-thin and companies can only thrive through consistent increases in volume.

So far so good. But if we look into the staff mindset of such an organization, we often find a different way of thinking altogether. Frontline service employees, focused on "getting it right the first time", trained to "carefully follow all procedures" and encouraged by management to achieve "more and more results in less and less time" find themselves answering the phone, opening the mail or meeting the next customer in person while thinking to themselves, "I hope this customer is not a pain in the neck!"

After all, customers with questions and unusual requests usually take more time, lead to more errors and can result in a general slowing down of the whole system.

No wonder so many customer requests for anything "out of the ordinary" are met with the retort: "We don't do it that way" or "It's not how our procedures work".

Service Encounters Of The Second Kind

In "Service Encounters of the Second Kind", your company approaches the customer with a question that goes beyond standard offers of "X" product at "Y" time and "Z" price. Instead of only the basic question "What do you want?", your service representative poses an additional, and more inviting question: "How do you want it?"

Faced with such an open ended question, the customer naturally replies, "I want it special. I want it... my way."

Your company's priority and service-focus changes. You deliver what your customer requests, just the way your customer requests it! Special products, unique combinations, odd-hour deliveries, different schedules for pricing and/or payment; all are challenges for your service team to understand, and accomplish.

With these "Service Encounters of the Second Kind", breakdowns in the service delivery system are to be expected at first, and then overcome. Responsiveness and flexibility become your prime objectives. The organization focuses on being adaptable, accommodating and open to changing requests. Your service system improves, not through vigorous efforts to standardize, but through your willingness and commitment to customize!

Companies that succeed in this challenging undertaking (giving the customer what he wants, when and where he wants it, and in just the way he wants it) earn their reputations in the market as quick, responsive and open to ongoing change.

When a company is recognized for welcoming and fulfilling unique, often "one of a kind" customer requests, the result is not only customer satisfaction, but also a well-deserved and valuable reputation for customer delight!

In these responsive organizations, training programs include active listening, creative problem solving, and attitude building activities to "find a 'yes' for the customer" instead of rolling out the standard company "no".
Marketing is not a broadside of mass advertising. It is a selection of specially modified programs "gently pushing" custom products into key segments of the market. The customer isn't just "sold to", he is "served".

In the staff and management mindset of these organizations, we find a shared sincere commitment to "bend over backwards" for the customer. For example, one newly adapting company in Singapore proudly proclaims, "We'll go out of our way for you!" This catchy phrase reveals the remnants of a "first encounter" company being forced into "second kind" levels of service. Here management say: "We do still have our way, but don't worry...we'll go out of our way just for you."

See an example of this contrast in the advertising of two fast food chains. A&W Root Beer used to have a large advertising billboard that reads "You'll love our way!" (Service Encounter of the First Kind.)

Compare this with the slogan and jingle for Burger King: "Have it your way, have it your way!" (Service Encounter of the Second Kind.) Which establishment would you feel more comfortable going to and saying. "Give me two hamburgers, please; one with extra ketchup and no pickles, and one cooked rare, hold the onions and 2 packs of mustard on the side."

Burger King goes even further with its button and poster campaign: "Sometimes You've Just Got to Break the Rules." That's a direct invitation to highly customized Service Encounters of the Second Kind: "Have it your way."

Next: Service Encounters of the Third Kind - Part 2

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