ENTR340 Service Strategy Spring.docx - Running Head:...

Running Head: SERVICE STRATEGY 1
Service Strategy
Jeremy Spring
American Military University

Running Head: SERVICE STRATEGY 2
Service Strategy
Running a business of any kind requires that customers receive outstanding service to
support long-term sales in a particular industry. A company thrives when customers are satisfied,
and this is usually reflected in repeat business, free advertising through word of mouth, and
increased revenue in the way of additional sales (Cooper, 2019). However, there is a distinct
difference between a product-oriented business and a true service business which requires a
different type of strategic thinking. This is where the organizational alignment of a company
demonstrates its importance. Many companies put a lot of effort into establishing a company
vision yet put minimal effort into aligning their organization around executing the strategic goals
of the company (Thomas, 1978). Therefore, since Off the Hook Charters is operating as a true
service business it is essential that we establish and maintain alignment utilizing mutual
accountability at all levels throughout the enterprise.
Accountability Area
Once the organizational alignment is established, it is necessary to institute processes that
maintain a healthy level of accountability to support the service culture that has been built. In
their book ‘Unleashing Excellence’, Snow & Yanovitch discuss five accountability areas that can
be utilized to provide information to help guide team members to maintain the company’s values.
These accountability areas are job descriptions, attention and focus, coaching, promotions, and
performance appraisals (Snow & Yanovitch, 2009). By utilizing these five accountability areas as
a guide, we can create a comprehensive plan that enforces accountability of our established
service culture at all levels up and down the organization. To demonstrate the value of these

Running Head: SERVICE STRATEGY 3
accountability areas we will concentrate the rest of this paper on the category of ‘attention and
focus’.
Service Behaviors
For Off the Hook Charters the first-line employees will carry 90% of the customer
interaction, therefore it is critical that they have a clear understanding of what is expected of
them in the first place. One of the best ways to ensure this is by personally demonstrating what
right looks like from the management perspective. As stated by Snow & Yanovitch (2009), “all
levels of leadership must make customer service a priority and demonstrate that priority through
behaviors” (p. 208). The only way that these service behaviors can be established is through
daily interaction with both the customers and the employees as well. It is essential for our
managers to treat our employees with the same level of service that is expected of them, if we
truly expect the excellent service culture to permeate throughout all levels of our charter
business.