I asked that question on LinkedIn, to get some more feedback to a blog post from last week.
Some insightful answers were posted, and in the spirit of sharing the insight, here they are:
Service quality is a really a function of Leadership – not size.
Smaller businesses display better service more often because the leadership is longer lasting, better connected and more passionate - especially in businesses that are directly managed by the owner.
(Thanks, Derek Wiliams.)
Capable managers are required to relay the Leader’s vision to the front lines.
“But, in the layers of staff below the Leader, which needs to communicate to frontline, you could have a weak link that is not capable of sharing that vision and providing that consistency.” Without capable middle management, the Leadership can be lost in the translation.
(Thanks, )
Not all organizations need or want to deliver great service.
Boy, it took some real guts to type that! But it’s true -
“What we have to remember is that not all organizations want to focus on giving great service. The beauty of our world is that each business owner can make their own decision about strategy and how they want to run their business. “ If your value proposition is based on price, availability and distribution (Hello, Walmart!), your customers may expect low prices, but care a lot less about service, as long as they get that low price.
(Thanks again, Derek!)
Serve different customers differently.
“Larger companies have the luxury to personalize service for larger accounts which offer greater financial returns, and offer generic process-driven service to smaller clients, according to the financial impact of losing an account” In other words, treat different customers with different service, based on the financial return.
(Thanks, !)
So there you have it -
While smaller companies have a tendency to deliver better service than larger companies, the quality of service is really a function of factors other than company size; it’s about Leadership, management, and ultimately the role of service relative to the company’s overall strategy in delivering its value proposition to the marketplace.
What do you think?