Customer service: what’s a smile got to do with it?

Notes that good service delivery has come a long way from “smile training”, but many managers are left wondering whether they should put emphasis on the “hard” or the “soft” aspects of service. There is no doubt that “soft” issues are key and many successful service companies stress the importance of developing customer‐friendly values, a positive environment and interpersonal skills to match. Remarks that “hard” aspects are important too and include process alignment, customer surveys, benchmarking standards and capacity management. The ability to handle times when something goes wrong demonstrates the interplay of “hard” and “soft”, service delivery necessitates a complex blend of “hard” and “soft” approaches.