I called my cell phone provider to clarify a mistake on my bill. The recording asked my language of choice, and then I listened to the prompts: Was I calling for service or to pay a bill or any of a hundred or so other options. I selected questions about my bill and the computer voice asked if my query concerned residential or business service or long distance or local or was there an interruption in service or whatever. I selected residential, listened to several more prompts and was placed on hold. Finally, as daylight gave way to darkness, the voice said a customer associate with be with you momentarily. Then I listened to commercials interrupted by, your call is very important to us. Our customer associates are busy with other calls and will be with you momentarily. Finally, a person (I think) answered: Who am I talking to? Are you the person responsible for the billing? What is your social security number? What was your mother’s maiden name? I had some difficulty remembering why I called in the first place after all these questions. Finally, the problem was resolved.

I recently pulled in to a No Service (I know, I know, they call them Self Service) gas station. I went inside, offered a twenty-dollar bill to prepay my gas. Two men were standing behind the counter, one on a cell phone speaking a foreign language, the other looking at him as if waiting for an important message. When the call was complete the two talked with each other for a minute or two while I waived my twenty-dollar bill at them. Finally, without looking up, one took my money, asked which pump, I told him and I pumped my gas. When I came back inside for my change the two were engaged in a heated discussion, one looked at the register, popped it open and gave me my change, all without a glance at me. No thank you, and no acknowledgment that I even existed.

Do you find it irritating that a bank wants to charge you to talk to an employee when you have given them the privilege of using your money? Or how about the airline that charges you $5 or $15 for the privilege of booking a flight by talking to one of their telephone representatives?

Or, more to the point, you send some of your hard earned money to a magazine advertiser and don't get your materials for weeks and weeks and weeks. They tell you they have to wait for your check to clear first or some other such nonsense. Then, when you get your materials, they are incomplete, so you want to contact them but all you have is a P.O. Box for an address, and your letters go unanswered?

What is the purpose of my rant? Service, that's what, or more appropriately, the complete lack of Service in so much of American business today. Banks want you to do your business on the Internet, gas stations want you to do your business at the pump, you buy tickets for the concert through a faceless phone voice, doesn't anybody want to look at you, to smile, to say, Thank you!

Wouldn't you be willing to pay extra if someone would just treat you with respect? Wouldn't you give everything you have if someone would teach good manners today?

Don't you think you could do really well in business if you gave better service than anyone else? Yes, you could, but its not as easy as it seems; otherwise, everyone would be doing it. Major companies like luxury carmakers, top of the line hotels, and jewelry stores spend millions and millions of dollars to assure a great shopping experience. Why? Because they have learned something most people never give a thought to; i.e. if you have a good experience you will come back.

I once heard of a businessman who had the highest priced service in his industry, and was the most successful. His guideline was: The price is irrelevant if the value is perceived. Simply stated, give someone his or her money's worth and you have a client for life. This man added: People pay for excellence but are shocked if they receive it. Wow, did he get it!

Lets talk about Service using a company I know about: FastHomeWealth.com.

When you contact us, you will get a prompt response. It will be a personal response. We give all your emails and phone calls our personal attention. By the time I started FastHomeWealth.com, I had many different previous jobs, had invested in real estate, and had tried at several entrepreneurial endeavors. Along the way I learned what I liked and didn't like and I patterned my company after those elements of service I thought were important. The result has justified my belief that people just want to be treated well and get personal attention (for proof, click on the Testimonials link here are read what others are saying). My students not only know they are following the right path, they talk to me along the way by email or on the phone.

So what is the magic to this stuff called service? Actually, no magic at all. Good service is just an extension of something people used to teach, Good Manners. I believe good service is nothing more than understanding it is a privilege to have a customer and people should be treated as such.