This is a Service Industry

Sounds pretty basic right? Fundamentals never change, and they rarely go out of style…

But maybe there’s another way to look at this…

“Experiences are distinct from services as services are from goods…”

quoted from Pine and Gilmore: The Experience Economy by way of Tom Peters…

We don’t look to Quality programs too often, because we all know “That’s a great idea, but we don’t make widgets, we provide a service…”

I would make the argument (elsewhere…that’s a whole ‘nother topic…) that there are things to be learned from the Quality movement even as it applies to the rendering of professional services…

What we do is different from manufacturing a product. We deliver a service, and we like to think that “Service” is higher up the “Value Added” chain than a “Product” and maybe it is.

What’s higher up the “Value Added” chain than service?...some people are suggesting that the proper management of our Client’s “Experience” can be the crucial differentiator we are all looking for.

Look at Lou Carbone’s website for experience engineering- www.expeng.com…
There are a couple of good articles to read…
Or try Chapters 8 and 9 in Tom Peter’s Re-Imagine…

Maybe we are still a “Service” industry…maybe the duration of a capital engineering project isn’t readily compared to the much briefer “experience” of applying for a home loan, shopping at a high-end natural foods store, or visiting a doctor’s office.

At a minimum, we should stop and think about what we could learn from these ideas and figure out a way to improve our “Service”, just as we should figure out what we can learn from the Quality movement.

Or perhaps we need to raise the bar…

Ask ourselves questions like

“What experience can I best provide my Client?...”

or …

“What impression to I want to leave my Client with?...”

Maybe it’s a risk to get away from providing good solid service…

Maybe the bigger risk is thinking that’s all you need to do…