Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service, Second Edition Revisions by Chip R. Bell and Dave Zielinski

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Standards and

Norms: Delivering on

the Service Promise

In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take

control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do

once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do

consistently.

—Anthony Robbins

Motivational Guru

While a service vision describes the experience you want to

create for customers, a service standard communicates what

you strive to be—every time, in similar fashion—across the or-

ganization so customers can count on a consistent style, atti-

tude, or manner from your staff. A service norm, on the other

hand, describes what you strive to do, every time, in the same

fashion so customers receive consistent action, effort, or exe-

cution.

For example, if the service standard is “we provide ...