Below is an Autogenerated Transcript

So we need to have a way of talking about and listening to and sharing with each other how good or bad is the service that we provide from the recipient’s point of view. And to help that happen, I created something called the ‘Six Levels of Service’.

Now the six levels of service are pretty straightforward. There are six, so we’re going to start down near the bottom. Down near the bottom is a level that’s not very good. I call it ‘Basic’. It means that you meet the bare minimum. So, the customer gets what they asked for, but it’s late, or it’s incomplete, or your staff was not polite. Clear? Or if it was a hot food, it came lukewarm. Just basic. Here’s how you say it. Basic. [in a deep voice] Okay, everybody, I want you to do it with me with your hands like this. Ready? One. Two. Three. Basic. How do you feel? Bleh. Just saying it brings you down. So that’s not where we want to be.

Let’s take one step up. Above basic is normal. It’s industry standard. I call it ‘Expected’. You do what it is that the customer expected you to do. You satisfy their expectations. Now that’s not a big deal in today’s world anymore. And so here’s how you say it. Everybody cross your arms. Cross your arms. And you take the sound of your voice and move it up into your nose. So it goes like this. Expected. [with a nasal tone] Okay, ready? One more time. One, two, three. Go. Expected. Now, in the old days, we used to say that a satisfied customer was a loyal customer, and the way you got a satisfied customer was by meeting their expectations. But today, is a satisfied customer always a loyal customer? No. They can move in a heartbeat, in a mouse click. So we need to take another step up.

And above expected is when you serve someone the way they like it, the way they hope for, the way they prefer. And I call that level ‘Desired’. And here’s how you say it. This is the after-lunch exercise. Everyone, please take your shoulders and roll them back. Here we go. Roll your shoulder. Roll. Are your shoulders broken? You can do this. Okay. Ready? Everybody roll your shoulders. Roll, roll your shoulders. Now I want you to add the sound. You go like this. Desired. [in a high pitch] One, two, three. Go. Desired. Good. Tell your partner how well he did that.

Let’s keep going. If expected is down here, and desired is up here… Well, once you know what somebody likes, once you know what they want, once you know what they prefer, then you could do something unexpected. And for them, it might be getting a little gift. And they go, “Oh, what a nice surprise.” And the way you say this one is like this ‘Surprising.’ [in a high pitch] Ready? One. Two. Three. Go! Surprising. Now above surprising is when you do something that is absolutely mind blowing. It’s the kind of thing that goes viral when they put it online. It’s the O-M-G of service. And at that level, I call it ‘Unbelievable’. And you say it like… Yeah, but wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait. Before we go all the way up there, there’s something down here which is below basic. It’s awful. It’s terrible. You don’t even meet the minimum expectations. That level is so terrible, it’s so awful, it’s so horrible. I call it ‘Criminal’.