In praise of the (service) heroes

By: The N'lighten team

When you’re both a consumer and a service improvement practitioner, it’s easy to become disillusioned with the apparently widespread failure by most South African businesses to deliver customer experiences that make you smile (let alone delight you and make you want to keep on shopping with them in the future).

I will admit that my service experience as a festive season shopper at the end of 2010 had me feeling this way. But then, out of the blue, I encountered a shining light of service delivery and my belief in the potential for businesses to actually deliver the service their customers deserve was restored.

What makes this story of hope all the more uplifting is the fact that I discovered this service superhero in, of all places, a technology retail outlet – most of which are notoriously poor at making customers feel valued.

Since this is an unbiased blog with no paid-for retail promotion, the store and superhero will remain unnamed, but suffice it to say, the unselfish actions of this service champion changed my entire opinion of the store and transformed me from a frustrated, soon-to-be ex-customer to pleasantly surprised source of potential repeat business.

Not only did the attitude and actions of this service champion put his floor manager (who can be glad he is also unnamed) to shame, they reminded me of the value that a simple act of service commitment can add to any organization. It’s a little like the story of the child who was found throwing beached starfish back into the ocean. When asked what difference he thought it would make since there were so many starfish on the sand, his reply, as he tossed another creature back into the water, was “I made a difference to that one”.

And that’s the point of this blog entry. If you’re a service champion in an organization that just doesn’t seem to get the need to create good experiences for its customers, don’t get disheartened or give up. You are making a difference – one happy customer at a time. Keep up the great work and, hopefully, your efforts will be recognized, you’ll get those promotions, and maybe one day we can work together to transform your whole business into the service champion you are now.

And if you’re a business owner or a manager who is privileged enough to have one or more of these service superheroes in your organization, you need to quickly realize what a valuable asset they are. Nurture them, promote them, and put them in positions where their service ethos can rub off on others. Then watch in amazement as more customers start walking out of your business with smiles on their faces and, more importantly, keep walking back in.