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Creating a great customer experience has become a driver for every business I meet. To the point that the nomenclature we use to differentiate between our businesses (ie are they manufacturing or service based?) looks increasingly crude.

Whatever your business these days, the service aspect is often the killer point of differentiation. It’s now a given that we expect the product to work (look at today’s cars – it’s almost impossible to buy one that doesn’t work properly).

Over the years, improvements in technology have reduced error rates in product manufacture to infinitesimal levels.

So manufacturers now concentrate just as much on the whole buying experience – the service side. In businesses, where the product is primarily service, intensive training and repetition similarly ensures a consistently reliable experience.

Which is why we should celebrate the fact that confidence among the service sector is growing. In its latest quarterly economic survey, Greater Birmingham Chambers reveal that the service sector, which includes professionals, retailers, tourism, hotels and catering, expect both turnover and profitability to increase in 2014.

It also showed that orders in the home market generally were up to 46 per cent, their highest level since 2007 and up from 33 per cent a year ago. Export sales also increased.

So it is with considerable admiration that I reflect upon the customer service experience I enjoyed as a guest of Aston Villa Football Club over the festive period. And when you think about it, many of the elements which make up the service sector apply to Aston Villa’s operations.

Bu unlike most other businesses I see up-close, there is a massive part of Villa’s customer experience that cannot be guaranteed – the results on the pitch, which were starkly illustrated in the league and cup over the holiday period.