Full Service Attitude

"One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others." ~Lewis Carol

"Once upon a time" is how the story would start or you might hear "...back in my day." As we grow older, we tend to allow these phrases to enter our story telling. It allows us to relate some memorable event or life that once was.

So my story starts with, "Once upon a time" filling stations (for automobile fuel) provided full service at the gas pump. I can remember back in the 1960s watching the "gas jockey" pumping the fuel, performing a quick check of the engine oil and washing the windshield.

And very much like the type of service in various other jobs today, the level of service varied. Not every service station attendant did a very good job in getting the windshield clean. Some would wipe the squeegie brush across the glass simply because they were required. Others, the good ones, would get each bug speck and streak cleared completely.

You would find a favorite gas station and know when your favorite attendant would be working. It is very much like people do today with restaurants and retail stores. All of this was pretty common until the 1970s where full service was the norm, and self service was rare.

Things changed after that with rising fuel prices, inflation and the need for business owners to cut costs. You can still, in fact are required to, use full service in New Jersey and Oregon. State law requires gas stations to offer only full service and mini service. These two states banned self service citing safety and jobs as reasons to keep the ban. All good reasons but of course it comes down to money; self service saves the business owner costly labor, full service saves employee jobs.

But I am not here to discuss those two points. What I am discussing is the level of customer service given either with full service or even in self service. Companies such as RaceTrac and QuikTrip in my area, try to place "service" back into the experience. With friendly counter attendants, clean and well stocked stores, quick service and always a "how are you doing" and a "thank you" given.

This compares to those other many gas stations you have exprienced. The thick plexi-glass surrounding the attendant, shelves stacked awkwardly and with expired products, dirty floors, torn and broken squeegie brushes; so dirty you would not want to clean your windshield with it.

I know that I am picking a little bit, but it is true. Gas stations are no different then any other retail business. You give your business to the business that earns it. If you are a business owner, service matters.

If you take "self-service" to the extreme, which means in many cases "no-service", people will take their business elsewhere.

But I believe the new pardigm for "self-service" is to create ways of incorporating "full-service" back into the experience. It does not have to cost a whole lot but it can mean a big difference in more customers, happier customers and growth in your business.

Now, what could that type of attitude have in your own life by adopting a more "full-service" attitude instead of having a "self-service" one?

Stay inspired my friends.