The Cycle of Service- How to see things from the Customer’s Point of View

The Cycle of Service is a map of a company's systems, broken down into increments, steps,
decisions, duties, and activities, all designed to take the customer from the front door, through
the company, and back out the front door again.
The power behind the Cycle of Service is the way it helps the companies see things that are
unique from the customer's point of view. The more they can see, understand, and experience
the same things as their customer, the better equipped they will be to fix what needs fixing
or adjust what's working well.

Cycle of Service Example—Movie Theatre

Let's choose a common service experience and map it out along the Cycle of Service.

The following 10 steps give the Cycle of Service from beginning to end, starting when you
leave your house and drive to the theater.
1. Find a parking space at the theater.
2. Wait in line to buy a ticket.
3. Buy your ticket.
4. Enter the movie theater; give your ticket to the taker.
5. Wait in line to buy popcorn and soda.
6. Pay for your food.
7. Go to the restroom before the movie.
8. Go into the theater and find a seat.
9. Sit and watch the movie.
10. Leave the theater and go back to your car.
These ten steps that represent a sample of the total customer experience at the movies are
actually ten separate moments of truth.
Customers are constantly making conscious or subconscious value judgments about each of
the moments of truth as they encounter. These value judgments go onto the mental report
card that the customers carry in their minds.
Things that could go right and what could go wrong during this excursion into movie-time
service is given below.

  Exceeds Expectations
Find a You find a nice, roomy space
parking in a well-lit area, close to the
space at front door, and away from
the theater those people with their
notorious door-denting cars.
Meets
Fails Expectations
Expectations
You find a space You do not find any parking
not too close and space in the entire lot and
not too far away have to park across the road
from the door. from the theater building.
 Meets
  Exceeds Expectations Fails Expectations
Expectations
You see a security guard
working around the lot,
keeping an eye on things.
Wait in A short line; not
A long line and a long wait
line to buy much wait for your
No line; no wait to get your to get your ticket; a long line
popcorn ticket; still enough
ticket. and all tickets sold out for
and soda. seats left inside for
that showing.
you.
Buy your Low bargain prices that you Higher then expected prices;
ticket. didn't expect; a friendly ticket a rude, surly, or downright
Standard prices; a
seller who makes pleasant dishonest ticket taker who
polite ticket seller;
conversation and tells you to snaps at you, talks on the
correct change; no
enjoy the show; correct change phone to his or her friends
problems getting a
from your bill and a coupon for during the transaction, or
ticket.
a discount on your next ticket shortchanges you $10 and
purchase. declares that you're wrong.
Enter the A spotless lobby; a charming
movie ticket taker who makes you A clean, well-kept, A filthy lobby with food and
theater; feel glad you chose that and well-lit lobby, trash on the floor; a sour
give your particular movie, gives and a polite ticket ticket taker who shoves your
ticket to directions to the theater, and taker who directs stub into your hand, says,
the taker. gives you a quick reminder you to the correct "Next!" and motions for you
about a new movie coming theater. to move along.
next week.
Wait in A long, disorganized line
No line, a courteous and
line to buy A short line, a full of angry patrons; a rude
friendly counter person who
popcorn helpful counter counter person who gives
explains the best popcorn and
and soda. person, the right you the wrong food and tries
soda bargains for your money,
food you ordered, a to hustle you through his or
and a cheery send off as you
polite thank you. her station like it was an
head for the cashier.
auto plant assembly line.
Pay for Excessively high prices, the
Lower than average prices, the Competitive prices,
your food. wrong change, and a mean,
correct change, and a cheerful the correct change,
obviously bored, or angry
cashier. and a polite cashier.
cashier.
Go to the Filthy, foul-smelling, broken
Spotlessly clean, roomy, well-
restroom Clean, safe, and toilets, missing hand towels,
lit, dry floors, well-stocked,
before the functional. soap, or toilet paper, too
nice decor.
movie. crowded, too small.

  Exceeds Expectations
Go into the Spotless seating area; well-
theater designed theater with no "bad"
and find a seats; enough light to find a
seat. good chair; pleasant
background music or slides on
the screen; roomy, comfortable
chairs that recline slightly;
drink and popcorn cup holders
on each seat; a pleasant
temperature—not too hot or
too cold; no gum on the seat or
sticky soda on the floor around
you.
Sit and
watch the A fabulous movie in a fabulous
movie. theater—great sound system,
excellent film quality, no
talkers or crying babies around
you, and a memorable
entertainment experience
overall.
Leave the
theater
and go
Friendly theater staffers who
back to
greet you as you leave, an easy
your car.
trip through an uncrowded
lobby, and a stroll through a
clean, well-lit, and secure
parking lot back to your car.
Mapping Experiences to a Cycle of Service
When you look at these moments of truth individually and collectively from the customer's
point of view, what connections can you make with your own experiences? In most instances,
a trip to the movies usually meets our expectations. From time to time, something great will
Meets
Fails Expectations
Expectations
Trash on the floor around
you as you look for a seat,
Clean theater with broken seats, missing
good seats nearly armrests, sticky floor with
everywhere; safe, gum everywhere, too hot or
comfortable, and too cold, smells like
dark enough for you cigarette smoke around you,
to enjoy the show a movie screen with a tear in
when the lights go it, loud music blaring from
down. the speakers, gloomy
lighting, burned-out exit
door signs.
A rotten movie in a rotten
A good movie in a
theater—shoddy sound and
good theater—good
movie equipment; a terrible
sound system and
film print, out of focus or
film quality, polite
threaded in backwards;
people nearby, and
talkers, smokers, and criers
an enjoyable
nearby; and an awful
entertainment
entertainment experience
experience overall.
overall.
Rude theater staffers filing
their nails, horsing around,
or throwing food at each
other as you leave; an
No problem leaving uneasy trip as you're herded
the theater: a safe through a crowded lobby
trip to your car. and out the door, only to
find that your car is in a dark
part of the parking lot,
across the highway, or gone
altogether.
happen and these expectations will be exceeded; and rarely, we will experience a total service
disaster. But by and large, we get our needs met satisfactorily.
When an organization exceeds our needs or expectations, we're pleased and often shocked.
Since most of our service experiences tend to run at an acceptable level, it's a nice surprise
when a company or an employee goes above and beyond the call of duty to make us feel
special.
And when an organization fails to meet our needs or expectations, we're displeased and
again, often shocked. Why? Because we've been conditioned over the years to expect good or
at least acceptable service from the places we patronize. And it's an unpleasant surprise for us
when a company or its employees goes out of the way to be rude, discourteous, or apathetic.
Our mental customer report cards are sacred to most of us. We keep careful tabs on who
treats us well and who does not. This reflects not only on our decisions about repeat business
but also on the positive or negative things we say (or don't say).

Task:
Use the movie theatre example above to create a separate Cycle of Service for any

organization of your choice. What were your experiences as a customer? Did it exceed
your expectations and needs?