1. Let the customer control the process. Giving people control over how a process is to be conducted enhances their satisfaction with it. In the medical area, allowing people to choose which arm a blood sample is drawn from reduces the perceived pain of the procedure. For certain repair jobs, allowing people to select a future date they want it

to be scheduled may be preferred to doing it right away.

2. Pay attention to norms and rituals. Deviations from norms are likely to be overly blamed for failures. This is particularly true for professional services whose processes and outcomes are not clearly ascertainable by the client, and hence adherence to norms is the central basis for evaluation. Consulting firms are expected to make presentations to the boss, even if he or she has little or nothing to do with the problem being studied. At such presentations, all members of the client team are to be lauded for their assistance even if they were less than helpful in accomplishing the work.

3. The front end and the back end of the encounter are not created equal.

4. Segment the pleasure; combine the pain.

5. Let the punishment fit the crime in service recovery.

In 300-500 words, choose one of the six behavioral based principles of service encounters, and cite an example of where you personally observed this principle and describe its outcome?