YOU just have had a long flight, endured a long queue at the immigration counter, lugged your baggage through the custom checkpoint, managed to hop on to a taxi, and finally you arrived at the hotel. You walked up to the check-in counter. This must be your lucky day. The receptionist was courteous, attentive and eager to provide you with the best service possible. And, feeling grateful for that telling moment of goodwill and efficiency, you would more likely become a return customer.

However, imagine a totally opposite scenario. As you walked up to the reception counter, the person on the other side was busy chatting on the phone. She saw you but ignored you. She continued chatting in an obviously social call. She was less than concerned with your customer welfare and satisfaction. I am sure most of us might outwardly endure this patiently but inwardly you had already made up your mind to take your business somewhere else the next time.

Thus, in a matter of moment, you have already made a decision to either to continue as a return customer or to discontinue your patronage and seek better service elsewhere. A seemingly inconsequential episode has — for better or for worse — determined whether you, the valued customer, will continue to lend your support or take it away. These telling moments are what are called “moments of truth”.

“Moments of truth’ as a concept was first formulated in the 1980s. It comprises the notion that the many interactions between customers and employees defined the overall performance of a service company. The experiences through these encounters help to retain customers or send them to the competitions.

The idea was given prominence by Jan Carizon, the then president of Scandinavian Airlines System. In his book ‘Moments of Truth’ he told the extraordinary story of turning a lacklustre state-run airline into a profitable business that consistently won passenger preference surveys. Carizon talked about how he managed to change to company’s approach, from being merely production-oriented to market oriented. The key point he said was that quality product must be matched by quality service.

As customers we greatly appreciate the efforts of the supplier who is prepared to put in the extra effort at the crucial moments for us. I used to buy my car insurance from Company X. The problem is that I loathe filling out forms, always forgetful of the expiry date of my car road tax and hate queuing up to get my road tax renewed. The agent from Company X was rather complacent. So every year I had to go through a panic and hoped that I did not get stopped by the traffic police. One day I mentioned this to an acquaintance who was in the insurance business. He found out the expiry date of my road tax, came round to my office a few weeks prior, filled out the forms and renewed my road tax for me. Needless to say, I passed to him all my other insurance requirements.

There are exceptions though. Sometimes the product of a business is so good that service and courtesy to the customers can be thrown out of the window with impunity. I recalled when I was in London there was (maybe still is) a Chinese restaurant called ‘Wong Kei’. It was a typical from rags to riches story. It started as a four-table noodle joint in an alley called Peter’s Lane in Chinatown, Soho. The food must have been so good and the price very reasonable that it just grew and grew. In a few years it moved out of the dingy little lane onto the main street, Wardour Street, occupying all four floors of a double front shop. The interesting thing about ‘Wong Kei’ was that its success was based solely on product and price. Service was non-existent. Soon it won the accolade of being the “rudest restaurant in the city”. As one journalist quipped, “the food is so good that by 8.30 in the evening people are queuing in front of the shop waiting to be insulted by the waiters.” This was a restaurant where an after dinner pause, while one was pondering on the choice of desserts, would elicit a “you no eat, you get out” and had the bill rudely thrust onto one’s face.

‘Wong Kei’ I must hasten to add, was an exception, a rare one indeed, and in fact, is getting rarer. In this competitive age product quality can easily be matched, price can be matched. (Note the recent zero fare war between our two airlines — more on that next week). If those two tangibles, product and price, are equally or nearly equally matched, companies would have to look to excellence in something else to give them the competitive edge. Superior service is what gives one the edge. It is what separates the excellent from the ordinary.

Resources and energy, however, are finite. Sometimes it may be difficult to maintain a high level of excellence across the board and at all times. Here is where the ides of “moments of truth” comes in. It is a case of not just “work hard” but also “work smart”. It is said that some moments are more critical than others. The task is to enable to discern those critical moments and to handle those moments to the satisfaction of the customers.

Talking about excelling at the critical moments, I remember watching a football match between England and Germany years ago. It was in the 70s. At that time there was a Germany star striker by the name of Gerd Mueller, known as ‘der Bomber’ for his lethalness near the goalmouth. England was beaten two nil. A piqued English commentator whinged how the Germans did not deserve to win because they played very badly. “Why,” he said “the so called der Bomber, Gerd Mueller, only managed to touch the ball twice”. “Yeah” retorted his more somber colleague “and both times it ended in goals”. Indeed, Gerd Mueller was a good example of handling the moments of truth supremely well.

Someone once said, “Even at the best of times there are companies going bust, even at the worst of times there are companies thriving.” The ones that succeed through thick and thin are the ones most capable of acquiring the winning edge. Superior service at the critical moments is one of the hallmarks of a successful company. The challenge is to define those critical moments, those moments of truth; devise methods to handle them to ensure that these moments are rewarding for the customers and that’s “working smart” with an exclamation mark!

The writer can be contacted at desee@pc.jaring.my