Defining “Service:” A Triggered Emotion

If someone complimented your brand’s service, could you pinpoint what the compliment was about? Talking about "service" can get old fast when we don't know what we are talking about. This a broad, ambiguous term leaves many of us confused as to both what our customers mean and what we mean.

From your brand's perspective, do you know what you mean? Whether you are a small business or a multi-national, defining service at your organization puts everyone on the same page. Even more importantly, when you define service, you are defining the emotions you want to trigger in your clients. If you can do that, you are in a position to create processes that grow your company’s service culture.

You can create a strong service culture by focusing on three categories:

• Emotion

• Action

• Motivation

Emotion

What emotion are you looking to trigger in your guest/customer? We start with what you want the person to feel. Some desired emotions may be: comfortable, cared for, optimistic, excited, etc. By engaging with your offering, what do you want the person to feel? We are emotional beings and if you want continued loyalty, we have to feel something. Therefore, identify every emotion that you want to conjure in the guest.

Also, these emotions should be in line with your company's values. Make sure that you are inspiring something that is representative of your brand. That way you are creating an entire universe of emotion. You trigger an emotion that creates loyalty and is part of the brand.

Action

Once you have identified the emotion you desire, now you will need to decide how to trigger that emotion. For example, if you want a hotel guest to feel appreciated, there are many actions that can yield that emotion: leave a note in the guest's room, send them up a special treat, give them a discount on a future stay, etc.

If you can identify the action that will trigger the emotion, you can start to track it. Create quotas and measurables to increase the action so that the emotion grows and becomes identified with the brand.

Motivation

The third piece is to identify what will motivate the team to complete the "action." If you are reading this and saying "their paycheck should be motivation enough" it's not. Paying someone does not have the same profound effect as helping them to feel something.

Let's do an example, you want to trigger the emotion: "appreciated."

Question: What’s the best way to motivate your team to complete actions that trigger you customers to feel “appreciation?”

Answer: Appreciate your team!

Model the actions you want your teams to complete. This creates an environment where they themselves feel appreciated. By triggering the emotion in your employee, they will have the mindset to trigger this in others and understand how much you value them.

It's not enough to build a "service culture." It's not enough to tell your teams to "do good things." The market has become so saturated that it makes more sense to specifically identify the emotions you want your customers to feel and then take every action to trigger those emotions.

What are some actions you have taken at your business to inspire emotions? @zjellson