Competition in the Service Industry

Another debilitating problem that service companies, like ours, face in marketing is that we are often either unaware of our service problems, or we are under the illusion that our service is good. Beckwith gives several examples of really bad services that we encounter almost on a daily basis. He also analyzes some of the stellar services that we have come to take for granted (FedEx or Disney World for example). The McDonald's of the world have raised the bar on what we expect from a service. The McDonald's near my house has particularly bad service, meaning I often have to wait 10 minutes or more, and they often get my order wrong. However, even in my complaint, the fact that I expect to get my meal, the way I want it, in less than three minutes, is a remarkable testament to what I have come to expect of the services I use. On the one hand we have experience with some services that are amazingly efficient, dependable, and organized, and on the other we suffer through amazingly frustrating unbelievable bad service like being put on indefinite hold during tech support phone calls. Most people, if they have any choice, will not tolerate such bad service. In the case of computer tech support, often there is no good choice, they must put up with what they get because there are few alternatives. Where there are alternatives, like deciding which web development company or design firm to hire for your project, tolerance for bad service disappears. Service companies like ours aren't competing with Microsoft with regard to service. We're competing with FedEx with regard to service expectations.

Typically, most small to mid-size companies struggle to maintain adequate levels of service. Rarely do we give conscious, deliberate, intensive thought into how we can improve our services. Beckwith's simple advice to assume that our service is bad rather than assuming it is good, forces us to keep a close eye on service, and force us to continually improve it.   next >