{"id":32581,"date":"2022-06-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/the-difference-between-good-and-great\/"},"modified":"2023-09-17T16:46:42","modified_gmt":"2023-09-17T16:46:42","slug":"difference-between-good-and-great-customer-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/difference-between-good-and-great-customer-service\/","title":{"rendered":"The Difference Between Good and Great"},"content":{"rendered":"\"greatIf you had to have surgery, would you rather go to the most skilled surgeon or the nicest surgeon?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nI was at a party the other night and someone I met shared his opinion of the difference between a good doctor and a great doctor. A<\/span> good <\/span><\/i>doctor makes you well. A <\/span>great <\/span><\/i>doctor makes you well and calls you the next day to see how you\u2019re doing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nI thought about that all weekend. My new friend was saying that<\/span> good<\/span><\/i> is doing what you are expected to do. If you\u2019re a surgeon, you make people well. However, <\/span>great<\/span><\/i> is the addition of a better customer experience. In the case of the surgeon, it\u2019s skill plus <\/span>bedside manner<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nHere\u2019s a \u201cless critical\u201d example. If you go to a restaurant that has the most delicious food, but the service is outright terrible, you wouldn\u2019t refer to that as a <\/span>great <\/span><\/i>experience. The food could be the best, but if what surrounds it \u2013 the experience \u2013 is tainted with rude and angry employees, you would be reluctant to go back.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nSo, back to my friend\u2019s example. The doctor\u2019s <\/span>bedside manner<\/span><\/i>, which included a phone call to check on the patient, is a metaphor for a good customer experience \u2013 or in this case, a patient experience.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nSweetwater, an online retailer that sells music and audio equipment, is another excellent example of this. I bought a new microphone and mixing board from them last year, and they assigned a salesperson to my account. A week after I received the items, \u201cmy\u201d salesperson called me to make sure they were working and confirm that I was happy with my purchase. A <\/span>good <\/span><\/i>experience would have been talking to a salesperson, ordering the equipment, and having it show up as expected in a day or two. What elevated it to a <\/span>great <\/span><\/i>experience was the less-than-one-minute phone call I received from \u201cmy guy.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nCreating a great customer experience doesn\u2019t mean going over the top. Occasionally, you have opportunities to do so, but if your typical experience includes a little something extra, like a phone call to check on a customer, you move beyond just being good. Our <\/span>customer service research<\/span><\/a> found that the top reason customers are most likely to come back is because employees are helpful and friendly.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nIt is expected that a doctor has skill. If the doctor is also helpful and friendly, another way of saying the doctor has a good bedside manner, then by my friend\u2019s definition, he or she is a great doctor.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nSo, what\u2019s your version of <\/span>bedside manner<\/span><\/i>? What little something can you add to the experience so that people will refer to you as great? Don\u2019t answer me. Sit down with your team and answer these questions for yourself and your organization. Define your version of what would make you a <\/span>great doctor<\/span><\/i>, communicate it to your people, train them to deliver on it, and watch your customers\u2019 reactions. They will reward you by saying, \u201cI\u2019ll be back!\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n