Premium Service

I saw last week’s question and answer and wanted to make an observation. We had a review on a major account and we also had a top score but the client seems to have got even more demanding and I am worried that we will not maintain our score next time as the team are taking a bit of battering from a barrage of unusual requests.

I was talking to my team about this only this last week. Customer service has thresholds like learning a language. Whereas the uninitiated think there is an ultimate pinnacle to learning a language - where you think you will be a 100% fluent at the “end”, it is just like climbing an infinite mountain range. You reach a summit thinking that is the top then a new one comes into view. You become conversant in contemporary Italian but then you realise you don’t know a whole tranche of words to allow you to order your new kitchen.

Likewise, great customer service sets an even higher expectation. I noticed this when I was fortunate enough to stay at the new Soho House in Berlin. Wow, what a great place – they have spent a lot of time and effort to make those staying with them feel very at home. They have made sure it is a great customer experience. Every bathroom cosmetic possible, individually styled rooms, staff ready to act on every request. So then it makes you start asking for the unusual. And more pertinently, when something that you think would be a basic hygiene factor (in my case, light enough in the bathroom to have a decent shave – not the mood lighting which thwarted me), you get a bit petulant. This is what happens when you, as the service provider, raise the stakes or are acknowledged as a provider of a premium service; your customers or clients expect more and/or want more.

So my advice would be to involve the client post-review, get a sense of what you should be focussing on and understand whether these requests will keep on coming. If so, you should make her/him aware of the practicalities of delivering them while delivering “business as usual” activity. They may not be consciously doing this but at least a conversation will help them understand what trade-offs need to be considered.