More service trainings = better service?

A few days ago, I saw this article in The Straits Times on the increase of expenditure to increase Singapore’s service standards. Today, there is yet another article on more training to be made available for service staff by the Singapore Institute of Retail Studies (SIRS). The question in my mind is “is training sufficient for better service?”.

Perhaps training could help a staff to be adept in handling situations like customers complaints and something as simple as adequate product knowledge could be achieved with training too. However, I am reminded of this Chinese saying, “皮笑肉不笑” which in English, means smiling on the surface but not from your heart.

Mechanically trained service would probably fit into this description. Staff are trained to smile, to help and to deliver. However, service from the heart would perhaps see service staff going the extra mile to make a customer smile. Of course, we aren’t talking about giving away all the in-store products for free.  It is about the sincerity when service is delivered. For instance, there is a stark difference between sending a customer a corporate birthday card and greeting her personally when you see her in the store sometime near her birthday (or even on her birthday itself) or even a card that is signed by familiar associates from her most frequented store.

I guess the problem with hard-drilled service training is that staff will soon follow rules by the book and doing things mechanically. Service rendered would be as per the company’ s expectations. Good for the company. However, service delivered in such a manner would probably mean a lack of human touch, which customers cannot connect with and hence have little recollection of. You train staff to provide good service so that customers can enjoy the experience and revisit your business. However, what good is it if the service experience is not memorable?

I remember my trip to Hokkaido 2 weeks ago where I met 2 stallholders, one selling freshly-grilled seafood and the other selling piping hot steamed potatoes and corns. What struck me then was how they smile widely at their customers, greet them happily and still looked so happy as they go about grilling the food. Of course, the small conversation that we struck up (with my limited knowledge of the Japanese language and theirs of the English language) just made me happier while eating my food. Perhaps the food isn’t all that divine but the sincere and wonderful service delivered by them made this small episode more memorable.

If only more Singaporean hawkers can have such a friendly demeanour; if only more service staff in Singapore can deliver such memorable service, then perhaps such service initiatives would truly be successful.