The cover of the book proclaims a way to “restore full service”. What does this really mean?
Part of the SNAP inspiration comes from good, old fashioned U.S. of A. gas stations. Remember, we used to call them “service stations”.
Here is a fun link about those old style full service gas stations. (Image and link from http://goretro.blogspot.com.)
During the 1950s and 1960s, when you pulled into a service station to fuel your car you got full service. And, though the attendant did not know it, he was fully engaged with SNAP. Took me a while to get wrapped around this, but consider what happens when you pull into the full service station — 1950s style.
As you pull in, you drive over a hose that triggers a bell in the station. The attendant comes running out as you come to a stop near the gas pump. The attendant is at the driver side door; you don’t even get out of the car — all you do is roll down your window. The attendant asks you how many gallons of gas you want or if you want a “fill up”. While the attendant fills your tank he checks your oil, your wiper fluid, cleans your windows and lets you know the air pressure in your tires. He may do more, as well.
The SNAP is not related to what the attendant does for you; it is related to how he does it; the attendant communicates with you by “how” he delivers service. You remain in your car while the attendant attends to your car. You see what he is doing all the time. He talks to you and lets you know what he finds and asks you if you need anything else. It doesn’t matter how quick it takes for this service to be delivered to you. What does matter is that you are informed every step of the way.
In the example of the service station, the actions of the attendant are his SNAP. You, the customer, know the status of what he is doing, you know what the next steps are, you know what the approximate timeline is, and you know what the planned outcomes are. The attendant checks in with you as he performs his tasks. You are fully informed. In large part, the method of service delivery allows you to see what the attendant is doing, and this is a major part of how you get SNAPed. You see what is going on. You know what is going on.
The concept of full service for SNAP is less about the “whats” that are being done. It is so much more related to the “hows” (the messaging) of the full service being performed.
Why is this important? Because, in today’s economy, the “what” of what we do is very different and because of technology so are the “hows”. We work remotely. We use email, the internet, systems, texts, tweets, and other less personal forms of interacting. Our modern methods of less personal communication put a burden on the communication aspects of SNAP. Assume less, communicate more.
If you focus on what has been covered so far about SNAP, you will realize that SNAP does not care. SNAP just wants to be used, to be snapped into place. The more impersonal your relationship, the more you will want to insert SNAP messages into your workflows.
The service station attendant engaged in SNAP just by doing what he did; moving around the car, doing his tasks, asking you questions, letting you know what he found. All real time. Today, we have to do more. We have to go out of our way to insert SNAP. Better yet, insert SNAP as “real time” as possible. This will result in your customer experiencing full service. This is what you want.
© 2012, Philip Espinosa. All rights reserved.
