The defining change of the economy in recent decades has been the rise of service as a vital component of it. We don't mean here just the (relative) decline of manufacturing and the rise of the service economy itself. No, rather, the way in which service has become the vital part or almost every product that is now sold, whether that product is a manufacture or a service in itself.

We actually track it to one seminal event, back in the 1980s. Banks were open 9.30 to 3.30 on five days a week and that was it. If you wanted to visit your money you had to do it at lunchtime which of course is just when everyone else in the country wished to do so as well. Someone, somewhere, had the rather shocking thought that perhaps staying open until 4.30 might be a good idea: even, horrors, Saturday opening. This might seem minor but to us it was the sea change: we the customers were no longer supplicants for whatever a company might wish to provide us with: they were in fact supplicants for our business and had to provide what we wanted when we wanted it.

Now, of course, it is possible to take this service revolution too far: anyone who has ever shopped at Ikea knows that it isn't complete. But the general point has to be understood: there are many suppliers of almost every good and service now. Consumers have choice about who to buy from. The way in which they are treated, the service, is therefore crucial to the success of any venture.

Think of the recruitment business for example. Talisman are specialists in a few markets, building and automotive for example. This means greater knowledge in depth of the market. They offer a fixed fee service, so that they are no longer prey to the salary and benefits package inflation temptation of their competitors. They only take exclusive contracts, meaning that they are perfectly happy to beat the bushes a little more for the right candidate (or indeed job for a candidate) as they don't have to worry about someone else diving in early with a less suitable offering.

All of that means that they are able to offer to their customers (and they do regard those on both side of the equation as customers, employers and applicants both) a more specialist and accurate service: this is better service by another name.

Any business that forgets this, that loses sight of the fact that service itself is now the defining difference between competing suppliers, is in for something of a shock when they find their business shrinking.