Distinction Between "Service" and "Hospitality"

This is one of those "Yeah, what she said!" posts.

Allison Shields of Legalease, has a marvelous piece on whether client service can be taught. Not sure about the answer to that question (my hunch is it could, but it's sure sad that it needs to be...).

What is quite clear in the post, however, is that when people like Allison and myself are talking about "service" we are thinking in terms of hospitality: treatment...experience...how the customer FEELS dealing with you. And most of the people we are talking to seem to be 'hearing' more technical (dare I say measurable?) elements of service such as delivery timeliness, etc.

Fact is, something can be done on time and done accurately, yet still leave the customer feeling miserable about the experience. It's ALL got to work. Read Allison's post!

(hat tip to Dan Hull who also had a nice write up on this...)