How can we have a service economy without good service?

For years now, the U.S. has slowly transitioned from a industrial economy to a service, or connection economy.  The idea being, that in the connection economy, service is our competitive advantage.  Unfortunately, companies speak about service from both sides of their mouth.  For instance, you may have heard your company CEO say that everything we do revolves around our customers, and then say we need to cut our workforce and do more with less, but I know you can do it because you care about our customers.  Maybe you heard your boss say that this client is our most important client and we need to do whatever it takes to keep them. You then report back what we need to do to keep said client and you are told we can't get approval for that as we can't spend any money.

Harold Meyerson wrote an opinion piece in the April 16th Washington Post titled Taking the "service" out of the service sector where he profiles companies such as JC Penney and Wal-Mart and how their "lean" approach to staffing has hurt their business.  Companies have to continue to work to make their service, or product more compelling if they want to stay competitive.  Expend the Emotional labor necessary to differentiate yourself from your competitors and be creative in the ways you look to grow your business, or make it more profitable. My experience is that when companies stand still, don't improve their product or service and just focus on cutting and slashing to the bottom line, neither short or long term business objectives get met. Unfortunately, these days, when a CEO talks to the rank and file about the future of the organization and spouts a dynamic phrase like business transformation to excite the team, it's really just code for we need to cut jobs. 

Everyone is a marketer in the connection economy

As I've written about in the past, I'm "in between successes".  It seems no one just says they are out of work anymore.  That being said, I have spoken to many company recruiters and HR people, and they communicate with potential employees, customers, or recommenders as if they aren't very important.  They seem to communicate with the job seeker as if they are less than everyone else and we should just sit around and "hope" they decide to communicate with you in some fashion. I won't tell you the number of times an HR employee as told me they would contact me by a certain date and not only didn't meet their deadline, but didn't call me back at all to provide any feedback on an interview.

In today's connection economy, every employee in your organization needs to positively connect with whomever they interact with and show them a level of humanity not required in the old industrial age. Any negative experience can spread at speeds not possible just a decade ago.  As an employee, all you have to really offer your organization that they can't get from someone else is you.  What makes you standout?  How are you adding value?  I can assure you that treating potential customers and employees without regard won't help your companies business, or help your job be more secure.

In today's ultra competitive economy every employee needs to make positive connections and use their skill, talent and passion to make a positive difference in the organization and the world.  How do you add value, or stand out?