Service Excellence in

Organizations
Service Excellence in
Organizations
Eight Key Steps to Follow and
Achieve It

Volume II

Fiona Urquhart
Service Excellence in Organizations: Eight Key Steps to Follow and
Achieve It, Volume II

Copyright © Business Expert Press, LLC, 2019.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

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First published in 2019 by

Business Expert Press, LLC
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ISBN-13: 978-1-94999-117-8 (paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-1-94999-118-5 (e-book)

Business Expert Press Service Systems and Innovations in Business and

Society Collection

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 Dedication
This book is dedicated to Dr. Don Watts, a beloved friend, an inspira-
tional teacher, and the first person who made me love learning. His field
of academic study was a long way from mine, but he captured my imag-
ination and gave me the greatest gift—belief in myself. Sadly, he died a
week before I completed the book, but his memory lives in the book and
in my heart. Managing the end of a product’s life is important to keep
loyal customers feeling they are valued by the organization, by offering
them alternative solutions.
 Abstract
This book is structured in two volumes. Volume I deals with the basic
tenets of service excellence, while Volume II suggests mechanisms, tools,
and techniques to help embed to excellence as the foundation of value
that the organization delivers. Both contain practical examples used by
some of the companies we know and love; both also contain a self-assess-
ment diagnostic tool that enables organizations to identify where they
have built significant strengths in terms of service excellence and where
opportunities to enhance their operations exist.
This second volume of the book focuses on approaches that will
embed excellence, promote loyalty and advocacy, and ensure freshness
of a product or service offering. These are all aspects that help to deliver
sustainability for the organization, representing some of the robust strat-
egies available to organizations, building on earlier robust strategies of
outside-in thinking, branding, segmentation, quality, and trust building
explored in the first volume.
The first chapter explores ways in which drama and excitement can
provide a more rewarding role for staff, resulting in added value and rel-
evance for the customer, and helping cement the relationship, and pro-
mote loyalty. The second chapter explores the shift from transactional
marketing to relationship building and ways in which this can be made
part of the genetic make-up of the organization, rather than a top dress-
ing. The final chapter considers how innovation in products and services,
but also in systems, can ensure that the organization maintains its rele-
vance for staff and existing customers, whilst also presenting them with
new and exciting alternatives.

Keywords
customer delight; brand engagement; service drama; servicescape; cus-
tomer activity cycle; brand authenticity; customer relationship manage-
ment; loyalty; advocacy; partnering; customer lifetime value; touchpoints;
product/service lifecycle; change drivers; innovation; design thinking;
­service development; service blueprint; service dominant logic
 Contents
Overview����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xi

Chapter 1 Energize, Excite, Elate�������������������������������������������������������1

Chapter 2 Embed����������������������������������������������������������������������������25
Chapter 3 Extend����������������������������������������������������������������������������65

About the Author��������������������������������������������������������������������������������113

Index�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������115
 Overview
This second volume addresses the way in which an organization that has
established itself with sound principles of excellence can extend this to the
mutual benefit of the customer, themselves, their supply chain, and the
wider community by going beyond adopting excellence in service, into
ensuring that a passion for service is the dominant logic for the entire
business, so that it is truly embedded into the business model.
Chapter 1 focuses on how outstanding service can add value to what-
ever the product or service offering of the organization may be, and how
the environment, customer roles, and the team contribute to that service
offering. Chapter 2 explores how loyalty creates mutual benefit, and value
to all stakeholder groups. The final chapter considers the role played by
innovation, and effective management of the product life cycle, including
discontinuation or phasing out.
 CHAPTER 1

Energize, Excite, Elate

Chapter Objectives
• To outline the role repeat business plays for company, staff,
and customer, and its link to service excellence
• To offer frameworks for continuing brand engagement
• To suggest techniques to deepen the customer relationship
• To introduce ways of keeping the brand fresh and exciting for
the customer
• To offer suggestions for bringing joy to customers, and
­making them feel that the organization has gone the
­proverbial extra mile
• To consider the excitement offered by new technologies

Chapter Profile
Repeat business is the lifeblood of any organization, and also the most
profitable business the organization does, as the staff know the customer,
and the sale reinforces the relationship, rather than having to start the
relationship as with a first purchase.
Engaging the customer over time needs to be based on the quality
of the relationship, rather than merely the quality of products or s­ ervice.
This chapter will explain how drama can play a role in the customer expe-
rience, making it memorable, and drawing customers back repeatedly.
It  will also explore how engaging staff creates the sort of climate and
­culture that encourages staff to go the extra mile, and truly engage the
hearts and minds of customers.
Key areas addressed in the chapter include the following:

• How drama can make the customer experience memorable

• Drawing customers back again and again
• Keeping your service fresh and relevant to customers’ needs
2 Service Excellence in Organizations

• Energizing staff to enjoy the customer experience

• Anticipating and responding to changing customer
needs/environment
• Connecting with your customers at point of purchase
• Turning customers into advocates
• Inspiring customers by jumping into their activity cycle
• Building trust through authenticity
• Turn complaints into committed and delighted customers

The Importance of Repeat Business

Many businesses focus on winning new business, rather than servicing
existing clients, but this is misguided and counter to service excellence.
Looking after repeat customers is more cost-effective than chasing new
ones; you might have to spend thousands on marketing and customer
research to win new clients, but, for existing customers, the hard work is
already done. As they come back time after time, their trust rises, and they
buy more, boosting the value of their purchases. A repeat customer may
become an ambassador for your brand, spreading the word about your
company among their friends, family, and supply chain.
There are 10 simple ways you can maximize the value of your exist-
ing client base, and cash in on the work you did to entice them in the
first place.
Here are the top 10 ways to get repeat business:

1. Get it right first time

If you don’t get it right the first time you sell to a particular customer,
they won’t buy from you again, so a great first impression is crucial.
  With a first-time customer, make sure every little detail is dealt
with as professionally as possible. Handle all correspondence in a
formal language, with a personal greeting on each e-mail, and assign
a specific member of your team (if you have one!) to deal with the
customer, so they build up a rapport and provide a clear point
of contact.
  If you are to deliver something, keep the customer informed of
every development in the delivery process, and, if the product or ser-
vice you’re selling is particularly complex, offer proactive advice to
 Energize, Excite, Elate 3

help the customer understand it. A week after the product has been
delivered, phone or e-mail the customer to ask if they’re happy with it.

2. Spend money on after-sales support

This may seem slightly basic, but it’s not; many companies put all
their eggs in the presale basket and don’t spend any time or money
on ensuring the customer is happy after they buy.
  If you’re handling after-sales support yourself, make sure you
treat each request as urgent and aim to respond the same day. If you
have staff handling after-sales for you, give them clear deadlines for
responses, and brief each of them on all your products, so they can
give the customer real insight.

3. Keep customers’ details on file

Again, this might sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how many
firms fail to keep accurate records for the customers they sell to.
  Create a contacts log book for all your customers. For each one,
include the following:

• The name of the person you’ve dealt with

• Their personal phone number and e-mail address
• Full postal address details
• A brief description of what they’ve previously purchased
from you
• Details of any feedback they provided—if they liked a
particular aspect of the product/service, you can use this as a
reference point for future business.
• Any personal information you think relevant—if you think
their age, gender, budget, company progress, personal back-
ground, or buying preferences will make a ­difference to the
products they buy in the future, keep a note.

  Alternatively, you might think about investing in customer rela-

tionship management (CRM) software. This can be expensive and
may be beyond the budget of a startup business, but it will create
permanent electronic records for each of your customers and orga-
nize your customers into clear groups. There are even some free ones
available now!
4 Service Excellence in Organizations

4. Tailor your alerts

Use the information you’ve stored in your contacts book, or CRM soft-
ware, to deliver relevant, targeted alerts on each new product or service.
  Don’t just send out a blanket mailshot to all your existing
­contacts. Make sure you only send information on new products to
­customers who have bought similar things from you before and have
the resources to purchase this new item.
  If possible, create tailored e-mails for each individual customer,
explaining why they’ll like your new offering. Mention their previ-
ous purchases, and the specific benefits the new product or service
will bring to their business or personal life.

5. Maintain contact
Although product/service alerts are often effective, many customers
will think repeated sales pitches are intrusive and annoying, so inter-
sperse your pitches with relevant, objective information.
  Ask them for feedback on the product/service they originally
bought from you; direct them to a particular news story, or that
might be of general interest or simply ask them how they and their
business are doing.

6. Think about special offers

By offering, say, a 10 percent discount or a three-for-two offer to
existing customers, you’re demonstrating to them, and the wider
world, that your company really values the people who buy from it.
  Also, think about offering free trials of new products/services to
your existing products—even if they don’t choose to buy what they
try, they’ll be pleased you’ve thought about them.

7. Add little touches

Think about little ways you can recognize existing customers, and
show them their business matters to you.
  You might wish to send a handwritten letter, thanking them for their
custom; alternatively, consider sending a small gift, such as flowers or
chocolates or something from your product range, or a voucher; if you
have a shop, try inviting clients to an out-of-hours party; or, if you have
tickets for an entertainment event, invite them along.
 Energize, Excite, Elate 5

8. Increase your profile

The more visible you are in your locality, the more people will trust
you—and the more likely people are to buy from you repeatedly.
  Make sure you join a local trade body, donate or volunteer for
local charities, and organize networking events. Nothing should be
too much trouble—if it elevates your profile, it’s worth doing.
  Badge your vehicle, and park it strategically, so that people see you
as a part of their world.

9. Maximize your online presence

In addition to creating a top-notch website, you need to think care-
fully about utilizing the online space. Here are some things you
can do:

• Create a forum on your website, so customers can report any

problems or ask questions about what they’ve bought and
make sure you monitor it actively.
• Create an online newsletter, and invite your customers to
sign up—so they can receive news about your business.
• Encourage user generated content. both on your own
­platform, but alos selected other relavant ones such as
­Tripadvisor for reestaurants, hotels and tourist venues.
• If you are in B2B, link to your customers’ websites—this
will boost your own search engine ranking, and create a clear
bridge between you and your clients.
• Use social media—follow your customers on Twitter, or add
them as a friend on Facebook.

10. Keep re-evaluating

Even if you give each client the red carpet treatment, they might
still ditch you if they can find a cheaper, or better, product
elsewhere.
  Keep a constant eye on your competitors—the way they change
their prices, their offers and discounts, and the products they bring
to market. Never, ever take your existing customers’ loyalty for
granted.
  Rather than drop prices to meet competition, can you add value
in a way that is meaningful for customers?
6 Service Excellence in Organizations

The Role of Drama in Service Provision

Staff in service environments often say they feel like frustrated actors and
actresses, seeking an audience for their performances. From a c­ ustomer
perspective, to be served by a member of staff who clearly enjoys a bit of
drama and interaction brings life and meaning to the experience. Pike
Place Fish Market in Seattle has made drama such an element of its ser-
vice that it has become a tourist destination in its own right. Staff engage
customers creating drama by throwing fish between themselves, or using
the fish as puppets and generally having fun while they work, to the bene-
fit and delight of customers who come along to watch the spectacle.
Services and drama have many shared elements.

Both are concerned with the tactics and strategies employed by people
to create and sustain desirable impressions before an audience. Both,
also, suggest that one way to achieve this is by careful and prudent
management of the actors’ expressive behavior and the physical setting
in which it occurs. (Grove 1992)

The Servicescape

For a drama performance, the scenery creates an atmosphere that influ-

ences the audiences’ attitude; so too the servicescape or retail environ-
ment provides a context against which service delivery takes place. Retail
atmospherics, which includes store décor, store layout, background

Figure 1.1  Hard rock café, Istanbul

 Energize, Excite, Elate 7

Figure 1.2  Orvis store using props to transport customers to where

they will use the products sold

1. Package:
• The servicescape’s key job is to convey an external
image of what the brand promises consumers. It is the
outward appearance of the organization and forms
initial impressions and customer expectations.
• This role is particularly important for new customers
and for newly established service businesses trying to
build a particular image.
2. Facilitator:
• The servicescape can facilitate the performances of
staff and customers. The design can enhance or inhibit
the efficient flow of activities in the service setting,
enabling or hindering customers and employees to
accomplish their goals.

3. Socializer:
• The servicescape can promote socialization of both
employees and customers by conveying expected roles,
behaviors, and relationships. New staff take cues from
the way the organization presents itself.
• A well-designed environment suggests to customers
how to relate to employees, what parts of the service-
scape are for them, and which are for employees only,
what behaviors and what types of interactions are
expected.
4. Differentiator:
• The physical environment is a powerful tool that can
enable a brand to connect effectively to its target
audiences, and chosen market segments, as well as
create a distinctive persona that stands out from other
brands in the marketplace.
• Within the same servicescape, differences in service
level can be expressed through subtle differences in
design to indicate, for example different dining
options within a hotel.

Figure 1.3  Four roles of the servicescape

music, merchandise displays, and point-of-sale materials play a huge role

in putting the customer in the right frame of mind for receiving a service.
Figure 1.1 shows how Hard Rock Café uses this in their Istanbul outlet;
the lighting, and rock-star costumes make the customer feel as though
they are at the center of a performance created for their exclusive benefit.
Orvis are using props, such as a rowing boat to transport their
­customers to the locations in which they might use the fishing rod,
­waders, and so on that are offered in the merchandise selection. The use
of wood also suggests links to the natural environment in which hunting,
shooting, and fishing enjoyed by their target market takes place.
8 Service Excellence in Organizations

The servicescape plays many roles simultaneously. Essentially, it gives

physical evidence of the service, and this is an important element of
building trust in the customer relationship.

The Actors: Staff and Customer Roles in Service

People, whether staff or customers, are an element of the marketing mix
too, and require planning and management if they are to contribute
­effectively to the service process.

Staff

In a service environment, unless it is highly automated, the staff are them-

selves the means of service delivery, and represent the organization from
the customers’ perspective. In many ways, they embody the brand, and
much of the marketing communications message conveyed by the orga-
nization comes from the type of staff it employs. The attitude, enjoyment,
and enthusiasm expressed by staff is a major component in creating the
customer experience. Hence a large part of the role of a service man-
ager is to create an environment both physically and emotionally that
can free staff to deliver a sensitive and characterful service. Selecting staff
that align with the target customer group can promote harmony, and
recruiting staff for an attitude that focuses on customers is likely to pro-
duce a favorable engagement and the basis for an enduring relationship
with customers.

Company
(Management)

Internal External
marketing marketing
enabling setting
promises promises

Employees Customers
Interactive marketing
keeping promises

Figure 1.4  The service marketing triangle

 Energize, Excite, Elate 9

Effect of Employees’ Behavior on Service Quality

Customers’ perceptions of service quality are affected by the level of

­customer-oriented behavior they see in employees. Although this is hard
to assess, evaluations using the RATER model of service quality can be
influenced by service employees’ attitudes and behavior.

Reliability: Ability to perform the promised service dependably and

accurately
Assurance: Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to
convey trust and confidence
Tangibility: Physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of p
­ ersonnel
Empathy: Caring and individualized attention the firm provides its
customer
Responsiveness: Willingness to help the customer and prompt service

Although not included in the original model, “sustainability” and “resil-

ience” might be added. The world has moved on considerably since 1985
when this model was proposed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry; we
have seen pressure on natural resources, damage to the environment, nat-
ural disaster, and man-made disaster. Sustainability offers an evaluation of
the organization’s harmony with environment, and ­Resilience indicates the
organization’s capacity for springing back after a natural disaster. The Fed-
eral Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the United States uses
“Waffle Houses” reopening as a measure of recovery speed after natural
disasters. In event of natural disaster, the Waffle House Index, or test, uses
the operating conditions of the resilient Southern restaurants as a barometer
for how well an area will recover from a hurricane, tornado, or other haz-
ards. The test indicates how quickly a business might rebound, but also how
the larger community is faring. When restaurants, grocery and corner stores,
and banks can reopen, local economies can start generating revenue again.
Frontline service employees link external customers and the exter-
nal environment with internal operations of the organization, acting as
boundary spanners. Boundary spanning positions are often high-stress
positions, demanding extraordinary levels of emotional labor and an abil-
ity to handle interpersonal and interorganizational conflicts. The term
emotional labor refers to work that exceeds the physical or mental skills
needed to deliver quality service. This includes friendliness, making eye
10 Service Excellence in Organizations

contact, engaging in friendly conversation, empathizing, and so on.

Clearly, these are all key elements in making customers feel valued and
that they have had an outstanding service encounter.
Boundary spanners are important for organizations because they help:

• Improve knowledge management

• Increase external visibility
• Provide internal coordination
• Resolve conflict
• Build trust
• Speed decision making
• Uncover new possibilities.

The servant leadership model is especially relevant in such environ-

ments, as it acknowledges this, by giving frontline staff the authority to
make decisions relating to customers and complaints in a meaningful
way, promoting long-term customer relationships, based on trust, reli-
ability, and commonsense.

The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to

make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served.
The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as
persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer,
more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And,
what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or
at least not be further deprived?
-Robert K. Greenleaf

Roles and Competencies for Boundary Spanners

Reticulist • Networking
• Managing accountabilities
• Appreciates different

modes of governance • Political skills and diplomacy
Entrepreneur • Brokering
• Entrepreneurial
• Innovative and creative • Tolerates
risk
Interpreter • Interpersonal relationships
• Communication, listening, and empa-
thizing • Framing and sense making
• Building trust
• Tolerance of
diversity and culture
 Energize, Excite, Elate 11

Boundary spanners are also referred to as T-shaped people, describing

their dual characteristics. The vertical stroke of the “T” represents depth
of skill facilitating contribution to the creative process in a variety of
capacities from design to engineering. The horizontal stroke of the “T”
addresses collaboration across disciplines and comprises two things.
First, empathy, which essentially allows people to imagine the problem
from another perspective. Second, enthusiasm about other disciplines,
to the point that they may begin to adopt them. T-shaped people offer
depth and breadth, and can as a consequence, be highly adaptable to
new situations.

Customers

Some level of customer participation is inevitable in service delivery,

because services are actions or performances, typically produced and
consumed simultaneously. In many situations, employees, customers,
and others in the service environment interact to produce the ultimate
service experience. As the customer receiving the service participates
in the service delivery process, he or she can contribute to the possi-
ble gaps in the service through appropriate or inappropriate, effective or
ineffective, productive or unproductive behaviors. When customers are
uncertain of their needs, they can soak up the customer service repre-
sentative’s time seeking advice. Similarly, shoppers who are not prepared
with their payment details can “put the conversation on hold,” while
they search for their cards in another room or even to their cars to get
them. Meanwhile, other customers and calls are kept waiting, causing
potential dissatisfaction.

Participation in Service Delivery

The level of customer participation—low, medium, high—varies across

different services. In some cases, participation is low, requiring just the
customer’s physical presence, with the service production work carried
out by employees, as in case of a theater production or musical con-
cert; the audience must be present to receive the entertainment service.
12 Service Excellence in Organizations

High touch High tech

(People intensive)
Continuously Lots of opportunities to develop
rendered services good customer relationships
Discrete service Hard to create a relationship
customers value
(IT and resource based)
Few opportunities to recover
mistakes made
Tends to be transactional but
benefits from the relationship
approach

Table 1.1  Framework for classifying services (Urquhart adapted from

Grönroos 2011)

In high-involvement cases, such as hairdressing, or education, con-

sumer inputs are an essential component in creating the service d ­ elivery.
­Grönroos ­categorizes services as high tech, and high touch, and each
­category needs particular understanding and sensitivity to design an
­effective ­customer experience.
Customer inputs may include information, effort, or physical posses-
sions. Hairdressing requires information, such as customer preferences
for ease of care, and lifestyle, and the commitment to spending time.
Accounting services use all three to prepare a client’s income tax return
effectively. Information in the form of income data, tax history, m ­ arital
status, and number of dependents. Effort in putting the information
together meaningfully. Physical possessions involve expenditure receipts
and past tax returns. Longer term consulting engagements frequently
involve ­ customers as co-creators. Increasingly, as more d ­isposable
income is spent on experiences, rather than possessions, co-creation
will feature highly in service delivery, and it needs to be managed
effectively so that customers’ data is effectively protected, and they
do not feel they are exposing themselves to potential reputational or
financial risk.
True customer engagement works at multiple levels, engaging hearts
and minds, and predicting environmental trends so that marketing
­interventions are wholly relevant to each target segment. This maps on
to the wheel of consumer analysis proposed by Peter and Olsen, which
identifies the interplay between cognition, affect, and consumer environ-
ment as determinants in consumer behavior, and sees marketing strategy
interacting with all three in a reciprocal arrangement. This is shown on
the following Figure 1.5.
 Energize, Excite, Elate 13

Affect Cognition

Marketing
strategy

Marketing
environment

Figure 1.5 The wheel of consumer analysis, adapted from Peter

and Olsen

Customer’s Roles
Part of the Productive Process

Service customers may be seen as “partial employees” of the organiza-

tion; a human resource playing a role in the organization’s productive
capacity. If they contribute effort, time, or other resources to the service
production process, they should be considered as part of the organization.
In consultancy projects, they will often be given access to a shared plat-
form for the project, promoting transparency and inviting involvement.
Poor quality or insufficient customer inputs can reduce the organiza-
tion’s productivity. In the consultancy environment, customers who get
better service can

• provide needed information in a timely manner;

• clearly articulate the problem they are experiencing;
• communicate openly;
• gain the commitment of key internal stakeholders; and
• raise the issues during the process before it is too late.

Customers as Quality Contributors to Service Delivery

and Satisfaction

Another role customers play in service delivery is that of the contrib-

utors to their own satisfaction and the ultimate quality of the services
14 Service Excellence in Organizations

they receive. Customers may care little that they have increased the pro-
ductivity of the organization through their participation, but they likely
care very much about whether their needs are fulfilled. Effective customer
­participation can increase the likelihood of success in meeting their needs,
and that the benefits the customer seeks are attained. In delivery of ser-
vices such as health care, education, personal fitness, and weight loss, the
service outcome is highly dependent on the customers’ participation;
unless the customers perform their roles effectively, the desired service
outcomes cannot be achieved.
Research has shown that in education, active participation by stu-
dents—as opposed to passive listening—increases learning the desired
service output significantly, yet students who fail to attain their desired
grades as a result of inability or lack of application often feel let down
by the service provider. They feel that as customers, they are entitled to
the qualification, rather than having to earn it. University staff have the
­additional responsibility of maintaining standards in their gatekeeper role
for the organization, so need to manage student expectations.

Customers as Competitors

A final role played by service customers is that of a potential competitor.

Self-service customers can be viewed as resources of the firm, or “partial
employees.” They can partially perform the service or the entire service for
themselves and may not need the provider at all.
Customers in a sense become competitors of the companies that sup-
ply the service. Whether to produce a service for themselves (internal
exchange) or have someone else provide home services for them (external
exchange) is a common dilemma for consumers in fields such as child care
or home maintenance.
More commonly, similar internal versus external exchange decisions
are made by organizations. Firms frequently choose to outsource service
activities such as payroll, data processing, research, accounting, mainte-
nance, and facilities management. They find it advantageous to focus on
their core businesses and leave these essential support services to others
 Energize, Excite, Elate 15

Figure 1.6  The action: Service scripts

Source: Co-creation of service outcomes adapted from Hubbert (1993).

with greater expertise. Alternatively, a firm may decide to stop purchas-

ing services externally and bring the service production process in-house
­(Figure 1.6).

Follow the Fish Principles

Visiting Seattle in 1997, John Christensen, owner of ChartHouse Learn-
ing, observed fish sellers at Pike Place Fish Market, tossing trout and
salmon through the air and energizing passers-by. Staff gave their complete
attention to each customer and ensured every visitor enjoyed the show.
Christensen saw that selling fish was repetitive, cold, and exhausting.
He also saw that despite these negatives, the fishmongers chose to bring
joy to how they approached their jobs and sold a lot of fish. He and his
team made a film and wrote several books and identified four simple
practices that work in any environment. The four concepts of choosing
your attitude, play, make someone’s day, and be there have the power to
kick-start a culture of positivity, creativity, and fun, and combine to make
The Fish! Philosophy (Figure 1.7).
16 Service Excellence in Organizations

Choose
Be there your
attitude

Make
someone's Play
day

Figure 1.7  Fish! principles

Choose Your Attitude

We all choose our attitude but often without much thought. A posi-
tive choice to create a good impact by being an enthusiastic and reliable
person who puts the individual in control. For each person, this may
involve:

• Writing a reminder of your attitude

• Checking your attitude throughout the day
• Planning ahead for situations that test your attitude
• Listing what you’re grateful for
• Looking for examples of the best.

Play

We spend a great deal of time at work and making it fun adds to the
reward we feel, as well as enhancing the customer experience. April Fools’
Day creates a fabulous opportunity for organizations to play with their
staff and their customers. Bravissimo is a UK company that produces and
retails (online and offline) lingerie for well-endowed women. In April
2018, its April fool joke featured a blow-up air bed with space for large
breasts. This proved to be a great hit with customers, resulting in the
e-mail below being sent out at the end of June 2018, just in time for sum-
mer holidays (Figure 1.8). Such was the success of this that the airbed has
been featured in the 2019 catalogue as a product to purchase!
 Energize, Excite, Elate 17

Figure 1.8  Excerpts from a customer e-mail sent by Bravissimo

reproduced with kind permission from Bravissimo

Make Someone’s Day

This aspect of the Fish! principles is really about finding ways to go above
and beyond a customers’ service expectations and takes them into the
realms of delight. This is another way in which servant leadership and
empowering frontline staff can truly create outstanding customer experi-
ences that will live in peoples’ minds, and be related to friends and family.
It is about transforming an everyday encounter into a pleasant and mem-
orable experience for someone.
It can be as small as holding a door open for a customer struggling with
a pushchair, or just smiling at someone who looks apprehensive. Often
life presents opportunities to do something exceptional for a ­customer.
18 Service Excellence in Organizations

On one occasion, a customer bought all of her baby’s layette from John
Lewis, Cambridge, but upon arriving home was unable to find it in her
car. She phoned the store, in the hope that it had been handed in, but
it had not. The store managed to find duplicates of everything that she
had bought and arranged to deliver it to her home later that week. This
delivery coincided with a baby shower that the prospective mother was
holding in her home. The mother was enchanted, and her friends (also
all expecting mothe rs) all came in to the store to buy their own layettes.
This story circulated for several years afterward as an example of John
Lewis exercising its Goodwill budget, a fund designed especially for such
opportunities. The cost was about £250—very small compared with the
impact on a highly relevant audience, and the duration of the message!
The cosmetics organization, Lush, awards its employees one “random
act of kindness” a day; this may be a very simple thing, or it may be some-
thing more dramatic, such as donating some of their products to women’s
charities (Figure 1.9).

Be There

Most of us in our working day have multiple demands on our time, and in
this situation, truly being present for a customer, or another staff m
­ ember
may fall in our list of priorities.

Figure 1.9  Posting from Lush Facebook page (accessed July 29,
2018) reproduced with kind permission from Lush
 Energize, Excite, Elate 19

“It means getting out of your own ‘world’ so you can BE THERE for
someone else. It means setting aside emotional baggage from the past
and worries about the future in order to appreciate the opportunities
you have available to you, right now.”
—Fish Philosophy handout
Figure 1.10  Fish Philosophy handout adapted from Fish! Principles

This principle means you are focused, listening, and even empathizing
with someone. It means blocking out anything not relevant to the person
you are speaking to, not typing or making coffee at the same time, but
being fully available for the person in front of you. It requires mental pres-
ence, being focused on the present moment, and the task you’re doing,
not daydreaming or thinking about other work tasks ­(Figure 1.10).
Fish! encourages us to choose the positive attitude that’s so important
in customer service. Customer-facing roles are hard work, over which the
representative of the organization has little control of what is going to
happen. One day you can come across rude customers, sometimes you
will have very difficult cases to deal with.
The bottom line is to consciously choose the attitude that will make
you happier. Try to find joy in your work, befriend your colleagues, laugh
and try to have some fun—this is what Fish! is about. But you can also
take your “Fish! Training” to a higher level: this philosophy inspires you
to look for joy in daily events and can make you a happier person in
the end.
The good thing about this philosophy is that it’s not only about
­engaging people and creating positive change in their workplaces, it
also applies to our daily lives every time we have to deal with something
we dislike.

The Role Played by New Technologies

Many forms of new technology have a key role in service delivery, from
customer-operated devices that record purchases as they go into the shop-
ping trolley, to holographic images capable of greeting customers by name
as they enter the store.
20 Service Excellence in Organizations

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the real newcomer in this arena increas-

ingly reshaping service by performing various tasks, constituting a major
source of innovation, yet threatening human jobs. Technology, when
used imaginatively, creates an exciting environment for the customer and
frees up staff members so that they can spend more time with customers,
building up relationships. Service tasks can be divided into four areas:
mechanical, analytical, intuitive, and empathetic. AI is developing in a
predictable order, with mechanical mostly preceding analytical, a­ nalytical
mostly preceding intuitive, and intuitive mostly preceding empathetic
intelligence.
AI job replacement mostly occurs at the task level, rather than the
job level, and mostly for “lower” (easier for AI) intelligence tasks first.
By replacing some of a service job’s tasks, AI can augment human labor,
replacing it entirely when it has the ability to take over all of a job’s
tasks. As this shift occurs, it prompts predictable shifts in the relative
­importance and roles of service employees. Predictions are that human
analytical skills will become less important, as AI takes over more
­analytical tasks, raising the importance of the “softer” intuitive and
empathetic for service employees. Eventually, AI will be capable of per-
forming even the intuitive and empathetic tasks, which enables innova-
tive ways of human–machine integration for providing service but also
threatens human employment.
We all use AI regularly when we interact with our smart phones and
home computers; service organizations are rapidly embracing AI in a vari-
ety of capacities, often in a manner that is transparent to consumers. Just
a few years back, a fully automatic car was a dream; however, now Tesla
and other automotive companies have made so much progress that semi-
automatic cars are already on the road. All the Tesla cars are connected
and what one car learns is shared across all the cars. So, if a driver has
to take an unanticipated hard-left on a cross-road, all the Tesla cars will
know how to maneuver that turn after they are updated. There are already
more than 50,000 Tesla cars running in the United States alone and that
number is set to increase exponentially.
For social media users, most decisions are impacted by artificial intel-
ligence. From the feeds that appear in timelines to the notifications from
these apps, everything is curated by AI. AI takes past behavior, Web
 Energize, Excite, Elate 21

searches, interactions, and everything else done on these websites and

­tailors the experience for the user. AI makes the apps so addictive that
users come back to them again and again.
Amazon and Walmart are heavily investing in drone delivery pro-
grams and these will soon become a reality. Any system using Google or
Apple Maps for navigating, or calling an Uber, or booking a flight ticket
uses AI. Both Google and Apple and other navigation services use AI to
interpret multiple data points to give real-time traffic data. For Uber, both
the pricing and the car that matches a ride request is decided by AI.
Online advertisements use AI to track user statistics and to serve us
ads based on those statistics. Without AI, the online ad industry can only
show random ads to users without personal tailoring. This tailoring is so
successful that the global digital ad industry has exceeded $250 billion
and is projected to pass the $300 billion mark in 2019.
AI and chat bots create personalized experiences and facilitate intel-
ligent, accessible engagement with the customers. End users can achieve
their objective or find solutions to their problems, driving satisfaction and
improving the overall customer experience. Businesses can use it to gain
insights into consumer behavior by analyzing big data to better under-
stand, and enhance the sales or customers’ journey.
Comprehension of consumer behavior and traits through customer
analytics can streamline the customer interaction process by making
information available and accessible across several touchpoints. Busi-
nesses can personalize customer experience by leveraging interactive
applications such as chat bots. These advanced computer programs can
simulate an online conversation with humans. AI combines individual
touchpoints and completes customer journeys to enhance and redesign
customer experiences.
Does this mean humans will become redundant? Unlikely any time
soon—but humans will be valued for different skills—instead of the man-
ual skills of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, and the analytical
skills valued in the baby boomer era, the 2020s will recognize the value
of some of the softer skills such as creativity, empathy, and networking
that are so fundamental to creating and securing long-term relationships.
These skills will help businesses engage both customers and staff in a three
way mutually beneficial relationship.
22 Service Excellence in Organizations

Quotations from Key Practitioners and Leaders of

Excellence Businesses
Let’s take most of the money we would’ve spent on paid advertising
and paid marketing and instead of spending it on that invest it in the
customer experience / customer service and then let our customers do
the marketing for us through word of mouth.
—Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos

Customer experience is the next competitive battleground.

—Jerry Gregoire, previously CIO at Dell

The single most important thing is to make people happy. If you are
making people happy, as a side effect, they will be happy to open up
their wallets and pay you.
—Derek Sivers, Founder CD Baby

End of Chapter Summary

This chapter has explored aspects of the relationship organizations estab-
lish with their customers that can transform the purchase experience from
a mundane transaction, to one of the highlights in the customer’s day.
This can be achieved through various means, including doing something
extraordinary and memorable for the customer, but also includes doing
things that create a sense of drama, and fun that benefits to the customer
and staff members.
The roles of the servicescape, and customers and staff in the purchase
process are discussed, with some supporting examples. The contribution
these make to creating are fun and energetic environment is a key element
in delivery service excellence.
New technologies, especially AI when used judicially, can both
enhance the customer experience, and free up staff time to enable them
to deliver the empathy that can forge long-lasting relationships.
 Energize, Excite, Elate 23

End of Chapter Review Questions

Interfunctional coordination Yes No
Do you have interfunctional customer calls?

Is information shared among functions?

Do all functions contribute to customer value?

Are resources shared among business units?

Does the strategy cover functional

­responsibilities?

Is functional integration addressed in your

­corporate strategy?

How well do your key departments coordinate? (Functional integration)

Operations–marketing

Marketing–production

Marketing–HR and so on.

Are there points of friction in the organization?

Do all your team have a concept of how their role delivers customer service?

Do all functions have a set of objectives that flow from corporate objectives?

Based on Narver and Slater (1990, pp. 20–35).

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February 25, 2018)
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 Index
Adaptive cultures, 102–103
Advocacy, 56
AI. See Artificial intelligence (AI)
Ansoff’s matrix, market development
collaboration, 82
consultation, 82
diversification, 82
internal strategies, 83
market-based strategies, 83–85
NPD location, 82
profit growth, strategies for, 85–86
risk factors and service application,
81–82
Artificial intelligence (AI), 20
and chat bots, 21
consumer behavior and traits, 21
delivery programs, 21
job replacement, 20
online advertisements, 21
predictions, 20
service tasks, 20
social media users, 20
Boston Consulting Group (BCG),
102
Boundary spanners, 10
Boundary spanning positions, 9
Change driver, 75–77
Commercialization, 90
CRM. See Customer relationship
management model (CRM)
Customer
as a business asset, 26–27
as competitors, 14–15
delight, 60
importance of, 27
inputs, 12
loyalty (see Loyalty, customer)
participation in service delivery,
11–13
productive process, 13
as quality contributors, 13–14
retention, 27–28
touch points, 40–41
Customer life cycle (CLC), 41
Customer lifetime value, 35, 42,
47–48
Customer relationship management
model (CRM)
applications, 41
with brand, 38–39
customer loyalty, 39–40, 43
customer retention and lifetime
value, 35
customer satisfaction, 36
data stores, 41–43
profit potential
employee retention, 48
increased purchases, 47
lifetime value of a customer,
47–48
lower servicing costs, 47
profiting from loyalty, 48
word-of-mouth advertising, 47
relationship marketing, definition,
36
target market, 35
technology and, 40
Design thinking, 70, 105
Distance learning, 95
Diversification, 82
Emerging Business Opportunity
(EBO), 102–103
Empathy, 11
End-of-life (EOL) product, 98–100
Enhancing factors, 81
Enthusiasm, 11
Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA), 9
Fish principles, 15–16
116 Index
April Fools’ Day, 16–17
cosmetics organization, 18
customer-facing roles, 19
empowering frontline staff, 17
The Fish! Philosophy, 15, 16, 19
Lush Facebook page, posting from,
18
positive attitude, 19
servant leadership, 17
Goods-dominant (G-D) logic, 70
Hygiene factors, 81
Information, customer inputs, 12
Innovation
benefits to organizations, 75
changes to customers, 73–75
changing business practices, 77–79
companies in service sector, 67–69
customer reaction, 72–73
definition, 66
delivering service excellence,
changing technology, 96
developing and delivering new
service
behind-the-scenes process, 92
design and deliver new services,
65, 92–94
facilitating service management,
94–95
elements, 66
enchantment example, 109–110
external drivers
sociology and technology
change, 76
STEEPLE, 75–77
good and weak aspects analysis,
108–109
learning organizations, 67
interfunctional coordination,
106–107
mental models, 105
personal mastery, 105
role of leaders, 106
shared vision, 105–106
systems thinking, 105
team learning, 106
market development, Ansoff’s
matrix
collaboration, 82
consultation, 82
diversification, 82
internal strategies, 83
market-based strategies, 83–85
NPD location, 82
profit growth, strategies for,
85–86
risk factors and service
application, 81–82
meeting customer needs
customer acceptance, 100–101
technology acceptance model,
101
new service development process
business analysis, 87
combined strategies, 91
commercialization, 90
concept development, 87, 88
idea generation process, 87–88
market leadership, 86
market testing, 88
new service sectors, 90–91
postintroduction evaluation, 90
and testing, 87, 88
organizational culture and
contribution
adaptability and innovation
culture, 102–103
Boston Consulting Group, 102
organizational barriers, 103–104
product management, 98–100
quotations/interviews, 107–108
service characteristics, 67
and service development
enhancing factors, 81
hygiene factors, 81
strategic management, 80
strategies to help innovation,
80–81
service-dominant logic, 69–72
service expectations
with old services, 96–97
through product life cycle,
97–98
from service organizations, 79–80
 Index 117
services vs. products, 65
Interfunctional coordination,
106–107
Latent loyalty, 50
Learning organizations, 67
interfunctional coordination,
106–107
mental models, 105
personal mastery, 105
role of leaders, 106
shared vision, 105–106
systems thinking, 105
team learning, 106
Loyalty, customer, 25–26
benefits to customer, 44–45
benefits to organization, 45–46
characteristics of services, 54
components of, 49
CRM (see Customer relationship
management model (CRM))
customer expectation, management
of, 29
customer touch points, 40–41
definition, 43
disenchantment example, 61
enchantment example, 61–62
excellence
quotations/interviews, 60–61
responsibility for, 58
in staff relations, 58–60
framework, 49
latent loyalty, 50
measuring, 52
no loyalty, 51
programs, 53, 55
importance of, 55–56
schemes, 56–58
segmentation, 28–30
spurious loyalty, 50–51
strategies, 52–53
transactional marketing
advantages, 32–33
counterintuitive, 31
degree of service, 32
disadvantages, 33
goods/services purchase, 30
personalization and
customization, 32
purchase occasion, 31, 32
to relationship marketing, 34–35
transaction frequency and value,
31
true (sustainable) loyalty, 49–50
Market-based innovation strategies,
83–85
Market leadership, 86
Market testing, 88
Mental models, 105
New product development (NPD)
location, 82
strategies for, 90–91
New service development process
business analysis, 87
combined strategies, 91
commercialization, 90
concept development, 88
idea generation process, 87–88
market leadership, 86
market testing, 88
new service sectors, 90–91
postintroduction evaluation, 90
service development and testing,
87, 88
NPD. See New product development
(NPD)
Online collaboration, 72
Parity factors, 81
Personal mastery, 105
Physical possessions, customer inputs,
12
Piggybacking, 95
Product-based organizations, 94
Product life cycle (PLC), 97–98
Profit growth, strategies for, 85–86
Quick-follow strategy, 84
RATER model of service quality, 9
Relationship marketing. See also
Customer relationship
management model (CRM)
activities, 36
118 Index
advantages, 37–38
customer loyalty pyramid, 37
definition, 36
disadvantages, 38
personalized attention and service
reward, 37
revenue potential, 34
stages, 34–35
Repeat business, 1–2
artificial intelligence, 23
and chat bots, 21
consumer behavior and traits, 21
delivery programs, 21
job replacement, 20
online advertisements, 21
predictions, 20
service tasks, 20
social media users, 20
boundary spanners, 11
cost-effective, 2
customers
as competitors, 14
inputs, 12
participation in service delivery,
11–13
productive process, 13
as quality contributors, 13–14
employees’ behavior, 9–10
fish principles, 15–16
April Fools’ Day, 16–17
cosmetics organization, 18
customer-facing roles, 19
empowering frontline staff, 17
The Fish! Philosophy, 15, 16, 19
Lush Facebook page, posting
from, 18
positive attitude, 19
servant leadership, 17
quotations/interviews, 22
service marketing triangle, 8
service provision, role of drama in
Pike Place Fish Market, 6, 15
servicescape, 6–8
value maximisation
adding little touches, 4
after-sales support, 3
customers’ details on file, 3
increasing profile, 5
maintaining contact, 4
maximizing online presence, 5
re-evaluation, 5
right first time, 2–3
special offers, 4
tailor your alerts, 4
Retail technology, 95
Segmentation, loyal relationships
price cuts, 28
service specifications, 29–30
short-term deals, 28
Servant leadership model, 10
Service blueprint, 89, 90
Service development
enhancing factors, 81
hygiene factors, 81
strategic management, 80
strategies to help innovation, 80–81
and testing, 87, 88
Service dominant (S-D) logic, 70–71
Servicescape, 6–8
Shared vision, 105–106
Slow-/no-follow strategy, 85
Spurious loyalty, 50–51
Statistical process control (SPC), 96
Strategic management, 80
Superiority factors, 81
Systems thinking, 105
Team learning, 106
Technology acceptance model (TAM),
101
The Fish! Philosophy, 15, 16
Tracking cameras, 95
Transactional marketing
advantages, 32–33
counterintuitive, 32
degree of service, 32
disadvantages, 33
goods/services purchase, 30
personalization and customization,
32
purchase occasion, 31, 32
to relationship marketing, 34–35
transaction frequency and value, 32
True (sustainable) loyalty, 49–50
 Index 119
Value maximisation
adding little touches, 4
after-sales support, 3
customers’ details on file, 3
increasing profile, 5
maintaining contact, 4
maximizing online presence, 5
re-evaluation, 5
right first time, 2–3
special offers, 4
tailor your alerts, 4
Virtual reality, 95