Service euphoria

The other day I read professor Magnus Söderlund's interesting thoughts about customer satisfaction. He convinced the reader, including me, that customer satisfaction is not enough. Instead the customer should experience stronger positive emotions during a service encounter. One emotional state could be joy. If the baseline today is that services are okay, smooth and provided by a talented personnel how should we move to the next level? One example from service encounters I had recently and which wasn't just satisfying but something more:

Last Thursday I had to go to the dentist and reluctantly so. I know the dentist from earlier visits so nothing was new in that sense. At first I had to wait for 20 minutes because of a delay. So I was in a bad mood as I could have done something productive at the same time. Anyway, my dentist came and apologized for the delay and asked how I was. Okay, I answered, but I don't like waiting. He explained politely why he was delayed (because of the patient before) and I understood all that...But if he hadn't listened to my suggestions for improvement of the service in a way that opened up a good dialogue, I would have been just a satisfied customer but nothing more. As our discussions went on (discussing my doctoral thesis and dissertation) until I had to give up my talking because of the drilling, I felt somehow relaxed and in a good mood. It wasn't euphoria but an encouraging moment of energizing dialogue. Maybe, if I wouldn't have anyone to talk to, these encounters as a customer would be the ones that would make life worthwhile.

As I was in Vienna last week I had lunch in a small restaurant the customers of which were elderly and obviously loyal customers. The service included a warm friendliness and especially a helpful attitude. On top of that the personnel wanted to know about their customers. There was nothing manipulative about it but instead authenticity ruled...I think that this will be the future...We will have to go back to the small-scale service providers. They are the only ones who can stay true and authentic and connect. It could be a way of creating euphoria and fight the feeling of loneliness and meaninglessness. After all what we really need is to be seen and that our existence makes a difference.