Service provision has no room for error

As more and more people gradually attain the middle class status or pretend to have made it, consumerism takes on another level. They adopt the time tasted capitalist mantra that says, “Do not do what you can pay others to do for you.” The whole process of having others do for you what you could yourself for a fee is what actually creates and runs the service industry. One who does not want to cook will go to a restaurant and pay to have just exactly what they want. Another one not ready to suffer to prepare meals for several guests will hire outside caterers to offer ready meals for his/her guests.Rwanda’s economy depends a lot on the service industry especially because tourism is a major foreign exchange earner for the country. Hotels, tour guides and transport companies among others are in this sector each trying to make some money while keeping tourists happy and comfortable to spend that extra dollar, pound or euro. The growth of the service sector has seen many innovative ways of providing services to people for a fee. We now even have companies providing funeral services to those who lose their dear ones but are not willing to spend time in funeral arrangements. Over the weekends, several couples host guests to lavish wedding receptions. The venues are exuberantly decorated and mouth-watering meals are offered while soothing music plays in the background. A wedding usually offers business opportunities to several service providers from the music/public address system providers, the decorators and cultural dance troupes. You also have outside catering companies, video and photography firms as well as several other service providers like the ubiquitous lady (it’s usually a lady) who provides the huge cake at a fee of course. However a wedding is such a huge deal to those getting married. After all, if you live happily ever after, like they always say, then it is supposed to happen just once in a lifetime assuming one is not polygamous. Therefore, it is arguably the biggest and most important day for the bride and groom. Judging from the degree of importance that the day carries, it is really business suicide for a service provider to mess up on such a day. If you are charged with preparing the cake, then make every effort to see that the cake is properly made and delivered in time. Do not spoil your clients’ day with lame excuses like “we are stuck in the traffic jam.” It is their wedding day for Pete’s sake and they are neither going to bear the embarrassment of waiting endlessly and nor see what they paid for. A service provider in such a function should think of all the possible scenarios where things could go wrong and prepare a plan for them. What do I do if this happens? That is the key question whose answers should help not to disappoint a client on their big day. What service providers ought to know is that many times, their clientele grows through the word of mouth. Therefore, if you mess up someone’s big day, then be sure that you will not be recommended for any other job because you were never forgiven for you shortcomings.