The Supply of Services

Manufacturers and product suppliers are highly versed in the processes necessary to take their raw materials, provide some processing to produce an end product and market/sell that product.  Their processes are geared to ensuring absolute replication of volume product ensuring both product quality and consistency.  If blue widgets are required then the procedures ensure blue widgets are produced, not red ones.

However, when it comes to providing and selling services the raw materials of the service are human endeavour and the process necessary to create and provide the service is human processed.  Without controls the precise replication of services will not occur resulting in raised costs and more importantly inconsistent or worse, poor, supply to the client.

• Do you sell services? 
• Do you understand your service raw materials?
• Do you know how those raw materials are combined to provide the service? 
• Are you sure that what you say you will do you do do?
• Does the service you supply always match your client's expectations?
• Can you replicate your service exactly each and every time?
• Is your business changing/developing?
• Are you always ready for change?
• How do you cope with changed/new services? 
• Is your service consistent?
• Is your service always of outstanding quality?
• How do you measure the service?
• Do your sales staff always sell what you can provide?
• Do you ever have a battle between your sales and operations functions?
• Are your clients always happy? 

More and more the drive for selling service causes sales staff to overstep what a service supplier can consistently provide.  This can only be avoided by stringent application of controls in order to ensure the service matches client expectations.  This demands the total integration of the sales function with that of the development, operations and other aspects of the business.

However, the service industry needs to be flexible so that the changes that will happen can happen that means change needs to be catered for in process models. Remember that if you don’t measure it, you cannot manage it!

And remember too that in the service industry it is easier to retain clients than get new ones and once given bad service a client never returns.

Maybe you need a Service Design Consultant???

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