Who Defines Good Service?

Credit: Bill Gillespie

Question: How do you define good service? 2nd Question: Does your opinion really matter? 3rd Question: Who defines what good service actually is?

I've really been pondering this one. I found myself in an absurd conversation with a manufacturing dude recently. He set out to espouse what good service was. His opinion was a total disconnect from the client need. In the end he said, "we can't be successful if the client expects"...what they expected.

Translation: This client and this company are not a fit for one another. The client needs a different source. The client found a different source. The client is happy and the new provider is happy. I assume the company that lost the work is happy. Everybody wins?

Not really. The guy that fumbled the need fired work for every employee. He decided, for the company, we can't be successful if we do what the client asks. Revenue was reduced.

Answers 1,2, and 3: You don’t define service, your opinion doesn't count, the client's vote is the only one that matters.

Years ago I found myself in a confrontational conversation with a large soft drink company. I never picked up a project that was as quoted. Nothing was ever on time. I was asked, daily, to produce more than specified, faster than specified with constant changes and interruptions. Like the production dude above, I was explaining how hard it was to be successful.

The soft drink exec said, "Bill, we behave badly. That's no secret. Everybody knows that and I'll promise you this. We're going to get worse. You have to decide if you're up for that."

I'll skip a bunch of writing and simply say that I decided I was. I also decided my company would be. I went back, shared the news and applied what my coworkers came to call "Bill Gillespie Pressure."

We did millions. Correction, we did tens of millions. Almost none of it had a right to happen. The fact that we did it anyway without complaining made us irreplaceable. Quotes didn't matter. Promises mattered. Deliveries mattered. We said yes and changed the lives of every employee for the better.

Our position with this industry giant puzzled our competition. We were under equipped compared to many. We didn't have a sea of machines. Our plant was small. How was it we were at the table and they weren't?

The answer is that we listened to the customer and not our fear or comfort. We found a way, every day, to do what the client needed. We never said no. We didn't complain when they changed the rules.

If you want to make a difference accept that the client defines service. They are going to get what they want. They don't compromise to accommodate timid sources.

The only decision is whether you're the solution. Providers don't determine what clients get. They determine what their company produces...that's all.

It was great doing business with the soft drink company. I made career long pals and learned how to solve all manner of problems.

Learn to say yes and figure it out.