Curious To Know Why ‘Excellent’ Service is Not Always Good For Your Organization?

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Back in the year 2010, on a mid-December melancholic night, I was sitting upset at customer office. An Emergency Solution Delivery took place on the afternoon of December 15, worked continuously two days around and finalized the plan for commercial launch. Standard agreed delivery timeline was four working days.

Although the last moment they changed many features, our previous Proof of Concept did not work, and everything we need to start from scratch again!

We had a trekking plan that weekend, the team ready and excited for some serene trails, backpack & tent packed — and we missed that journey for those ‘just some change’ work.

What do you think? Customer Manager come and applauded us with big hug and clap and say we love you?

No.

Next week they said our service fulfillment manager as they expect this solution delivery a bit earlier than provided.

We submitted within forty hours of submission despite ‘just some change’ and scratch plan formulation, and according to agreed formal service level agreement ( SLA ) — four working day was standard. This was one of our best customer and relation was really great!

So, what the problem? Real problem?

Our service account manager, Kim Johnston, a warm-hearted grizzly bear:), who continuously speak in British-English, Japanese, Indonesian mix with the different accent and colloquial: comes forward to my desk, with his usual witty attitude, and do some mocking with this example. He always warns us to follow decorum and norms with the customer, most of the time team ignored as we had an informal good relation with customer, their office was alike almost our home.

After some weeks, Kim arranged a Bootcamp for two days for service management handling with rigorous exercise, kind of a military style though. Sweet punishment :)

Just want to share some insight learned from our sweet-bitter experience, in a nutshell.

Consider this as Some applicable ‘here and there chitchats’ for service management — whatever you’re doing — from traffic management to software services or from technician service to lawyer firm: everywhere.

Just segregate service standard in around five categories and shared opinion how those should be managed, mostly in terms of ‘TIME’ factor. This is an opinion from experience, not something called strategies or rules and based on my decade of the journey in the service sector — mostly in IT and digital service industries.

Let's Begin.

Least expected or not expected at all — Criminal standard service category.

Which is beyond service level agreement, beyond logical reason, and beyond the limit, negatively.

Straightforward No, No, No.

Your system or organization should be designed with capacity for worse scenario and for an optimum number of customers or issue handling. At no point, no one allowed providing service which is beyond the limit in terms of time or standard.

Next to it, rarely expected — Bad standard service category.

Intentionally no one wants to provide bad service which is the least quality and/or beyond standard time, and no one also expected to get it anywhere.

Since nothing is perfect in the world, even after with yours’ best effort, some services can unintentionally fall into this category. Varies from industry segment, experts said 5% or less service may fall into this category.

If more, perhaps this is not ‘unintentional’, you actually know those loopholes but not want to resolve those loopholes so those happened.

Keep focused on those loopholes that create ‘bad’ standard services and ensure not another example happened again with the same cause.

Be Average, don't shy !

30–40% of your service may be fit in this category, a standard system with optimum resource and optimum customer base usually run in this sphere for most of the time. This provides service with standard quality but almost reaching standard timeline.

As a user/customer, someone has begun to think about it — unfair.

But it will happen and if you add-up extensive resource to avoid it and the system will unsustainable in long run.

Suppose you run a help call center, and at peak hour at afternoon — 100 calls per minute reached. Center appointed 70 agents, 30 people have to keep waiting with a standard call-support time, heuristically.

Now if the customer expects instant & uninterrupted service, almost hundred agents will be required, who ’s do not have any engagement at any other hour in a day.

All services except premium services have to accept the similar trade-off. This trade-off challenge is continuous, never-ending, to make system near-perfect.

Good service. A smile on customers face :)

You must keep at least 50% of the service in this category. On time, standard quality service that makes your customer pleased. Simple math.

You may try to apply continuous development to increase this sphere, add-up from ‘average’ sphere, but be practical also. No one expecting resource scale up without a clear signal of increased exposure or business forecast. Service should moreover a balance in between ‘good’ and ‘average’ category, in a healthy ecosystem.

Excellent service. Devils lies here, trust me.

‘Marvelous’, your customer uttered and give a warm hug. Or, a praiseworthy email to team with warm words. Yes, you can expect this response once you confident after providing excellent service.

Customer asking a service in distress that usually takes three days minimum. You managed that, follow up with focus, even sent a guy to ensure timely delivery — great ! bravo! Clap!

A good advice for you — don’t fall into the trap, keep your system’s excellent service on demand and not more than 10–15% of total handling!

Many of you do not come with the argument.

Why? Why you have the objection to keeping in control, which actually benefits the people ??

Cause, in the long term, you are making big damage to the system and its organization.

People are slaves of habits and everything becomes ‘usual’ in this mundane world. When you do three-day standard work in a day for 30–40% of your customer or same percent of issues, the user will throw it at the ‘average’ expression.

Gradually its become ‘usual’ to them, and it will ‘expected’ usually. Believe, this will must have happened.

Now your systems started growing, customer or issue will also grow accordingly; and pressure increases slowly.

Now misery started!

With designed resource, still, you’re providing support with agreed scope — which in between ‘good’ or ‘average’ sphere, but customer expecting ‘usual’ service which is actually excellent or near to excellent!!

And you’re starting getting dissatisfaction gestures! God, you’re providing standard timely service and same time customer started accusing you or your organization! bitter and hilarious though, but you created it.

So, understand your system and future traction, understand your capacity model and Service Level Agreement before calibrating your service.

keep up with ‘Good’ service always don’t mind so much for ‘average’ ones, must avoid criminal or intentional bad services.

And be cautious for ‘excellent’ services, make it on-demand on-situation basis, not trapped in. Keep the distinction line clear.

Stay in line, stay good.