Superior Customer Service--Often Talked-About; Rarely Delivered-Upon?

My office has instituted a Book of the Month in order to help us agents stay motivated, get motivated, sell more, and be of more help to people in buying and selling real estate.  I think it's a cool idea.  Last month, we read, "The Magic of Thinking Big" by David Schwartz.      Good book; very motivational; little bit outdated re: specific prices of everyday things but an awesome book, nevertheless. 

This month's Book of the Month (February) will be "Raving Fans" by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles.  We haven't read it yet, well only a few people have already read it but it'll do everyone good to read it or re-read it. 

So, to get back to the topic of "Superior Customer Service--Often Talked-About; Rarely Delivered-Upon."  Any service business should be geared toward just that--SERVICE.  Helping people.  Assisting people.  DELIVERING great service.  It seems that in today's world, we are lucky to just be served in a competent way, nevermind hoping or expecting a service people going over and above.  Our expectations have been lowered so much that I find myself surprised just getting ANY service.  I usually figure that when I go buy something, it'll be a painful experience and that's just the way it is.  Take the grocery store and buying food.  I detest going grocery shopping because, typically, the check-out clerk is busy chewing gum, looking at her cell phone to see who just texted her, and holding a simultaneous conversation with the bagger while ringing up my groceries.  Other than the checker saying "Hello" at the beginning of the whole arduous deal, I have even been there when they didn't even make any eye contact with me.  And, I am not a mean-looking person.  Am I?  Well, anyway, I was buying groceries again last week.  There was a new lady there to check me out.  I was blown away by her great customer service.  She initiated a decent conversation.  She said, "Hi."  Okay--maybe not a GREAT conversation but greeting is a good start, right?  Then she asked if I found everything okay.  I'm not a brain surgeon but, "Yes," I can locate some eggs and milk on my own.  He he.  Oh, sorry, I was getting negative.  Let me stay positive.  She really did a good job.  She found a common thing we shared and we had the best conversation, mostly because she got me talking about myself.  I think she was a great conversationalist; now that I think about it, though, she continued to ask me questions about my favorite topic--me.  She helped bag my groceries and even got a bagger to help.  Then she said to have a great day and I left there feeling great and thinking that I should really write a letter to her manager, telling him what a great employee she was and what a good point-of-contact she is for the general public.   

So, after thinking about it, I was really impressed with her and her apparent interest in whatever we were talking about.  Then, I got to thinking "Shouldn't I EXPECT to have great service when I go do anything, anyway?"  I have such a low expectation that I was bedazzled that there was an actual interaction that was pleasant in one instance in all my grocery shopping.  Shouldn't I expect better?  Shouldn't I expect good things re: service from people who serve the general public?  THEN, I would be impressed ONLY when a service person did an EXCEPTIONAL job and delivered above-and-beyond service. 

What do you think?  Do you agree or disagree that companies and people SAY they deliver great service, when in fact they don't?    

Anyway, back to the Book of the Month for February: 

This book was chosen mainly because, with our company, we tout our "Legendary, Quality Service" to those we work with.  (I know that sentence is not grammatically correct but it seems artificial to me to write "to those with whom we work.")  Anyway, my company has some little known "Rules of Conduct" that I'd like to go over.  The cool thing is that these Rules of Conduct for people at my company refer back to our Book of the Month for February.  The Rules are basically questions you can ask yourself prior to acting.  The one that refers to our Book of the Month essentially asks us if our actions will "exceed our customer's expections" and create "RAVING FANS."  Here are the Rules of Conduct from my company below:

RULES OF CONDUCT:

Every manager, associate, and employee of [the Corporation], measures all business decisions, and their performance, by these rules of conduct.   

Is This Action Honest, Fair And Ethical?

Does This Action Treat All Parties With Respect?

Does This Performance Exceed Our Customer's Expectations And Will It Lead to "Raving Fans"? 

Will This Action Protect My Long-Term Success And That of My Company?

If the answers to all four are Yes, it is a safe decision. 

So, what do you think of these Rules?  Of course, we should be doing them anyway, but ARE we really?