Exceptional customer service is hard to find, even in these times when you expect companies to be doing everything they can to attract and retain customers. When working with companies to improve service, we always examine three elements of the operation as they relate to customers – people, processes, and physical facilities. We find that usually it is processes and facilities which can lead to dissatisfaction, but rarely will a customer rave about how wonderful the facilities were or how great the processes are.

When I do speaking engagements on Creating a Culture of Service Excellence (the title of my next book), I ask participants to share a memorable customer service experience that they have had. Over time, I have found 99 percent of memorable experiences were because a person did something totally unexpected. My conclusion is that exceptional service ultimately comes down to the people component.

Simply satisfying customers is not enough to make a difference in the success of a business. In fact, numerous studies have shown that satisfied customers are just as likely to switch as dissatisfied customers; they just do it for different reasons and take longer. On the other hand, research shows that customers who have had a memorable experience are likely not to switch and also, will tell other people about their experience. Customers are satisfied when they get what they expect. Memorable experiences are created when customers have a positive experience that they didn’t expect.

People deliver service based on the three C’s – competency, courtesy, and caring. All three are important in proving exceptional customer service and memorable experiences. However, as we move from competency to courtesy to caring, several interesting dynamics occur. First, the ability to train people becomes more difficult. It is much easier to train people to be competent than it is to train them to be caring. While it is possible to improve a person’s level of caring through concerted effort, I generally recommend hiring people who have an inherent ability to care and be courteous, and then train them on what they need to be competent.

Secondly, these are not of equal importance in creating service excellence and delighted customers. In fact, courtesy and caring can overcome incompetence, poor processes, and bad facilities in many cases. Incompetence can lead to dissatisfaction, but competence by itself rarely creates a memorable experience. Creating a memorable experience usually comes down to courtesy and caring in most businesses with the exception of healthcare related businesses. In healthcare, caring is usually the difference between a patient or family being satisfied and having an exceptional experience.

In a study of lawsuits brought against medical practices, it was found that the propensity to sue had nothing to do with the perceived competence of the provider and very little to do with the courteousness of the staff. However those people who felt that the care giver was dong their best and went out of the way to show they cared, were much less likely to sue.

The three C’s also apply to internal customer satisfaction as well. Those people and departments which are viewed most favorably by their internal customers have mastered competency, courtesy, and compassion.