Can you innovate service?

There’s a little revolution going on in the business world. It’s an oldie but a goodie: service.

Businesses that never lost their focus on the service secret have survived the ups and downs of the economy.

What difference does it make? Well, you know it when you see it — rather, experience it. You feel it. The reason why it’s even a topic of discussion is because the pendulum has swung from service being expected to woefully lacking to a smart business owner’s secret weapon.

You might be wondering what this has to do with wood products. Take our word for it: focusing on service can help businesses overcome almost any challenge. It doesn’t really matter what you make or do in the business world; turning your focus to service raises the bar.

Here’s a great example:

A guy comes into our showroom. He wants us to match the price of a competitor that makes and uses what we know are subpar wood products.

Our staff members are experienced so they expect potential customers to ask this. The mindset we have is: don’t be bristled. Explain the difference. Go ahead and explain it again.

That guy is shopping for price, not quality. What we deliver is quality. We’re not going to compromise quality for a cheap price.

It’s OK to ask. When people are shopping for a car, they ask. It’s just what we all do. Why should we expect people to not ask about price?

If someone isn’t willing or able to pay for the high-quality car they want, then it’s (sadly) possible we are not the right fit. We feel the same way about our showrooms. The difference is how we think, feel, talk about, and react to these situations. It’s OK.

Why? Because we are serving that shopper. It is a form of service to help him get what he wants: a low price. We don’t say anything bad about our competition. We happily send price shoppers their way. Doing so serves the customer, the competition, and us — even our employees.

We have a mission, a vision, and integrity. We don’t waffle. Our service is as solid as our wood.

If you’re in business, you know what it feels like to lose a potential customer — especially one that has taken time to look. We’re never going to hit 100%, but those who say no may come back. How you treat a person as they say no is part of your customer service.

We hear it all the time from people. They buy something from one of our competitors, come back to us because they weren’t happy, and in the end, they give us a testimonial about how easy our products were to install — and the quality.

So, if you (or a business owner you know) are looking for ways to improve your bottom line, consider looking across the board at service. It can be as simple as innovating this aspect of your business.