Welcome to the Service Economy

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During the last few years, almost every single industry in the world has undergone a quiet revolution. The service economy is here, and if you run a business and don't know what that is, you'd better start paying attention.

It used to be that "service industries", such as hotels, needed to focus on providing excellent customer service. It is their business to give you a positive experience that you'll remember the next time you are looking for a service provider. "Product industries", such as car manufacturers, needed to focus on providing quality goods so that you'll return to that brand when you need to buy that product again.

While quality is still very important, consumers today are looking for a great experience. In other words, quality matters less than service. Consumers will just as easily buy from the next business if their customer experience at yours is sub-standard.

Though important, quality, features, and even price are no longer the key differentiators between products. How the customer feels before, during, and after the sale is far more meaningful to modern-day consumers.

So the new secret to success is to make sure that your customers walk away with a positive feeling about the service they received while engaging with your company. This includes your website, service staff, ordering process, returns policy, customer follow-up - the entire experience.

Welcome to the service economy.
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