Got Good Customer Service? Me Too.

Nov 02 2010

-Brant Kelsey

Adology recently posted a blog entry entitled Marketers Promote Customer Service as a Competitive Edge. In it, an Empathica study suggested companies should begin promoting exceptional customer service as a way to separate themselves from their competition in the marketplace.

Indeed, customer service is an important component of the entire brand experience. But should we be promoting this as a core offering?

No.

A self-proclamation of “great customer service” falls on deaf ears. Unless you happen to be the CMO for a huge multi-national company and winner of multiple J.D. Power Customer Satisfaction Awards, all a potential customer has to say is “prove it.” The only way to “prove it” is to do it day after day after day.

Your patrons expect good service. It’s a necessity of running a viable business in America.

Make improving customer service an internal program. Train employees how to handle these precious customer relationships. Make sure staff understands the power of word-of-mouth, and the positive and negative returns that flow from it. Identify and verbalize the value of your customers, and what it costs you to gain trust and profits from those customers. Millions of dollars are spent on award-winning advertising campaigns, only to be wasted when a prospect phones a call-center employee who’s having a bad day.

Concentrate on marketing what makes your company unique. If “awesome service” is the only thing that makes your company great, what happens when the competition begins providing the same level of service? They'll be claiming "me too" and you'll be stuck looking for something else to separate you from the pack.

If the food at the restaurant stinks, it doesn’t matter how great the waiter is.

Promote your brand’s differentiation. If customers have a great experience, they’ll tell their friends.