The common understanding of service in business today is unidirectional – focused on the service from a provider/supplier to its customer. The pressure and expectation to provide 100% satisfaction is relentless. Getting it right “most of the time” is often considered failure. And clients or patrons let us know when we miss the mark – sometimes with tremendous passion!

But what is our role as customer in this exchange of service for purchase and patronage? If our expectation is zero-defects, what service can we provide as customers to help meet this goal?

Many organizations use waiting time and processing speed as key measures of service quality. This is fine – as long as they don’t become the only metrics that matter. An obsession with such ‘numbers’ can make you lose sight of what is really important: how your customers experience what you are doing for them rather than how efficient your systems and processes are.

Many organizations are eager to learn and implement best practices. However, simply trying to replicate what works in another organization is bad practice. Wal-Mart’s much-publicized $1.85 billon mistake is a timely reminder.

So, what went wrong?

Singapore is a unique and extraordinary island. The country has no natural resources other than its people and location. It takes less than an hour to drive from one coast to the other yet this tiny city-state is home to the world’s most awarded airline, top rated airport and is consistently ranked among the best places in the world to live and do business.

Singapore now enjoys a pragmatically focused and continuously improving service economy. The government, population and commercial sectors all work closely together to become the best in the world, to create value for the world, and to serve the world with enthusiasm, innovation and vigor.

The best service isn’t necessarily about getting a plane to depart on time or sticking to policy. In fact, it can mean making a decision to put one customer above others.

The pilot held back a plane with hundreds of passengers for twelve minutes – so that one passenger could make the flight. As Christopher Elliot, the consumer advocate and journalist who first broke this story wrote: “Twelve minutes may not sound like a lot to you or me, but every second counts when you’re an airline. Southwest can turn an entire plane around in about 20 minutes, so 12 minutes is half an eternity.”

In this instance, the pilot put one category – service mindset – above others in the four categories of value in “The BIG Picture”

Amazon’s customer service has always been recognized and applauded as world-class. This is remarkable, especially since it is a purely online retailer. Amazon has hardly any ‘human’ interactions – often considered crucial perception points for increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty – in the value delivery chain.

Many companies try to emulate Amazon and cost-effectively provide higher levels of service through leveraging technology. But Amazon does not only ‘deliver customer service’ – they build powerful partnerships with their customers.

How do they do it?

Profitable every year since the beginning, Singapore
Airlines (SIA) frequently wins international awards for
top customer service and in-flight quality. Here’s how they do it.

Regardless of whether Toyota was slow, ignorant or delusionary to the faults in its vehicles, one thing it has finally done is to say “We are sorry”. But this is only Step One in a successful service recovery.