In writing my third book about that the only sustainable competitive advantage left in this world is customer service. I am pondering whether excellent customer service means giving the customer 110% or 200%. Can we afford to give 200%? Is it necessary as long as we meet or exceed the customers expectations? Will 110% do?
This past week, there was a serious problem on Chicago’s train system. One entire line was shut down for awhile, and some people could have been hurt. This happened at 9:00 am and was resolved by 12:00 PM. A long time if you are stuck inside a train but not that long in the scheme of problems thatChicago’s train systems have. By that evening when I boarded the train system (not the line that had been broke), I found out they were handing out flyers of apology (that’s nice) and giving free rides to EVERYONE in the entire system. If you do not live in Chicago, you need to understand that our public train system is always broke. They are constantly talking about cutting service. We have one of the highest fares in the country. Isn’t giving out free rides going to make it worse? Is this really necessary to show good customer service by giving away a free ride or is this just a publicity stunt?
I would much rather the train system have my fare and deliver transportation that is clean and on time. To me, that is the definition of outstanding service. What do you think?
