Great Service is Always a "Big Idea"

A slowing economy often motivates companies to cut costs. They should exercise discernment when doing so, for they may not know it, but their customers are ripe for the picking.

A brand is built when a company or individual consistently delivers on an extraordinary promise. This promise serves as the foundation of the "Big Idea" companies seek and marketers crave. People have learned to despise marketers in general and advertisers in particular because, in their zeal to carve out and define a competitive advantage, marketers tend to over-promise, which reduces both the effectiveness of all advertising and the reputation of all marketers.

On the other hand, it is easy to believe, then, that once a company has established a consistent habit of delivering (or over-delivering) on an extraordinary promise, that behavior becomes ordinary and expected. It is an ever-escalating arms race to attract and keep the attention and loyalty of a demanding and fickle audience.

This might help explain why consumers think customer service is getting worse. But don't ignore the possibility that customer service may, indeed, be getting worse.

Whichever explanation is correct, it's clear that two things are true:

1. People value great customer service
2. They aren't getting what they consider great customer service

This indicates a great opportunity for anyone trying to break into an under-served market.

Even large companies, long having abandoned the principle that they exist to serve their customers, and not the other way around, are vulnerable to small competitors who wage commercial guerrilla warfare against them -- slowly capturing too few customers to take notice, until it's too late to level a credible response.

Question of the Day
Who has the more enviable position? The current, profitable category leaders who don't serve their customers well or the struggling, hungry and feisty competitors who are absolutely fanatical at serving a much smaller (but growing) audience? - Cam Beck

Comments

[Lewis Green]

Cam,

I think that those who provide extraordinary customer service can never surprise or exceed customer's expectations once those customers become loyal shoppers for obvious reasons: Extraordinary becomes expected.

That is why I encourage my clients to not only provide great customer service but to focus on creating great experiences that touch shopper's senses. In b2c the experience inght include overstuffed chairs, soothing colors, attractive aromas, etc. In b2b, the experience begins and end with making clients happy, happier and happiest. A guarantee backing up our products and services doesn't hurt either. And let's not forget great value at a fair price.

Good post, Cam.

[Paul Herring]

Agree with Lewis but sometimes it's just about the basics. I have Time Warner for cable and internet. It doesn't go out often but when I do have trouble I have to wait twenty minutes for someone to talk to, then be told to unplug and replug in their device, then schedule an appointment. Anyone have experience with AT&T Uverse?

[Cam Beck]

Interesting discussion.

Lewis - That reflects pretty well one of the possible explanations for reduced satisfaction with customer service. However, as Paul mentioned, certain general guidelines (quick response time, efficient handling of customer problems, a friendly smile and cheerful attitude) will never become stale, though they're for some reason still in short supply.

Paul - I don't have Uverse, but I had a heck of a time getting AT&T to straighten out a billing issue after we separated a combined billing account. It took about an hour to figure out what happened, plus two and a half hours on the phone over three calls trying to explain and get AT&T to agree that they were in error.

Sometimes being married to an accountant has unique advantages. :)

[Jim Stroup]

I learned a lot from this. The collision of the creation of expansive expectations and recession-induced cost-paring leaves customers walking away from the scene looking for alternative means of transportation.

It also suggests either that the right and left hands - here, marketing and operations - simply aren't talking to each other, or that the business as a whole focuses only on its most immediate apparent problem, forgetting all that has gone (and that it has promised) before and heedless of what might come next.

Very thought-provoking, the way these two elements are put together - thanks for this!

[Kelly]

Cam,

Being the smaller company has its ups and down, but the ability to work your magic under the radar and create raving fans while the big guy isn't looking does make it an enviable position. Everybody's waiting for the big guy to take a fall, and judging their every step. Not so enviable. For folks inside such a structure, it's incredibly frustrating to want to see changes happen, but know that the agility to create change is not there.

I totally agree with Lewis. Create that fabulous Customer Experience. Great CS is only one aspect of that.

Regards,

Kelly

[Cam Beck]

Jim - As I think on it, I believe your series on the roles and responsibilities of inside a corporation has significant relevance here. Why is it marketing and operations aren't cooperating? Does one need authority over the other? And why are the owners not investing the resources to make sure each department's needs are met? I don't know if those are the exactly right questions to ask; I have to give it more thought.

Kelly - I think your analysis is spot-on. Your comment about agility is especially insightful -- This speaks not only to the difficult of a large company to make perceptible changes quickly, but also to the frustration it creates in the workforce, which makes it more difficult to attract and retain trained, motivated staff.