Gap 5 & Roswell

The secret hidden in Roswell’s hangar is not an alien body or spaceship.

It’s Gap 5.

Gap 5 is the reason service contracts are terminated. The bigger the gap, the harder to retain the account. And for contractors, shrinking Gap 5 means keeping contracts longer.

Gap 5 is the difference between customers’ service expectations and their perceptions. As you can guess, there are four other gaps before Gap 5. But they only contribute to Gap 5. Gap 5 is the big enchilada. It’s why customers change service contractors.

Why is Gap 5 in Roswell?

Because it’s a secret.

Customers don’t tell contractors what they expect or how they’ll perceive service. Not explicitly. Not in ways contractors can work with. Also, customers aren’t being asked, or contractors don’t know how to ask.

Specifications aren’t in Roswell

Don’t get fooled into thinking specifications tell contractors what customers expect. Specs only tell the “what”, and sometimes the “where” and “when”. Rarely, if ever, do specs spell out the “how”, “who”, or “why” services should be performed.

When a specific task hasn’t been performed, customers cancel contracts with “you didn’t meet the specs”. However, you can bet the large majority of cancellations are much more subtle. This is Gap 5 in the flesh.

KPIs aren’t in Roswell

Key Performance Indicators are like odometers and speedometers. They show customers how far or fast service has been performing. However, they don’t state what customers are looking for, especially before service is performed.

The Importance of Gap 5

That brings us to Gap 5, which was created back in the mid 1980s as part of the ServQual model for assessing service quality. And although ServQual isn’t perfect, its Gap 5 provides a spotlight on a contract’s potential longevity.

Gap 5 Exposed: EXPECTATIONS

Gap 5 in the ServQual model shows customers’ expectations are driven from four places:

• Customers’ personal needs
• Customers’ past experiences
• Word of mouth
• Marketing communications from contractors

KEY TAKEAWAY: Only one of these factors is controlled by the contractor, marketing communications. The majority of customers’ information is outside contractors’ direct control.

This means contractors must deliver lots of value to existing customers, resolve issues quickly and to customers’ satisfaction, and treat everyone as if they’re customers for life. Because they are.

Gap 5 Exposed: PERCEPTIONS

Customers’ service is driven by two areas:

• Delivery of Service
• External Communications to Customers

KEY TAKEAWAY: Although contractors believe they’re in control of delivery and marketing, they’re not entirely. Perception is everything.

Contractors deliver service and believe customers have seen it. Not always the case. Services by nature are invisible. Customers can’t and don’t see everything contractors do for them.

Think about the day porter or guard helping an elderly visitor through the revolving doors into the building.

Contractors must tangibilize services. That’s what KPIs and Business Review Meetings help to do. But contractors must also seek ways of making their services more visible in ways that customers allow and appreciate. For example, a leave behind note on tenants’ desks when a special service has been done (washing a coffee cup?).

Not always an easy task when customers want their outsourced services to be seen as in-house by their customers.

The Roswell Conclusion

Contractors need to take actions to shrink Gap 5, or suffer high customer turnover as the consequence.

They must define customers’ expectations in ways the contractor can fully understand. Ideally, during the transition before the start of service. And in doing so, they’ll help make customers’ aware of their own expectations.

Also, contractors must make their service delivery as visible and tangible as possible, within the realms of customers’ approval. Then they must communicate their performance regularly (KPIs and Business Review Meetings).

How do you determine customers’ expectations?

~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance

Technorati: account retention, customer service, service quality

6 comments January 21st, 2008