What makes selling a service so damn difficult?

I feel that delivering an excellent product is far easier than delivering a reasonably good service. How many have you heard some consumer praising about a great service received? The chances are very few. As my marketing professor once told me that marketing is a very humane activity, I feel services marketing are even more humane in nature. As it’s so humane its natural to err. But we humans don’t accept when we err. When you visit a restaurant and you get the wrong dish, what’s the first reaction of the waiter? He’ll say I just gave what you ordered. Passing on the blame comes naturally to us. Businesses that accept the mistakes and try to fix it go along way. You always remember the waiter who goes out of his way and changes the dish and says sorry. Don’t you? Thus mistakes are opportunities. Your employees are the key to a better service. In supply chain it is said that the strength of the chain is determined by the weakest link. Same hold true for services the quality of service is determined by the most inefficient employee delivering the service.