There’s an old maxim describing 4 blind men discovering an elephant. The blind man who feels the leg says the elephant is like a tall tower of stone. The man who feels his tail disagrees saying the elephant must be a long, thin but flexible rope. And the irony is they are both correct because our realities are ultimately shaped by our world views.
An industry colleague once said “if customer service doesn’t generate money how can it be anything other than a cost center?”
And he is entirely correct because his world view is shaped by the 90 day cycle. 90 days represents the window in which all activity can be measured. A long term strategy that bears fruit in 100 days is, by definition, a distraction.
How you view customer service, therefore, is entirely dependent on the metrics employed by your organization. Change agents need a degree of separation from these Street driven metrics in order to effect any change of value.
When O2 decided to cut back on product managers in 2007 and channel the resources into customer service the approach was counter-intuitive. This was a time when operators were placing their bets on content and application services as the key to catching the next hockey stick.
But O2’s decision paid off; churn rates fell, market share increased.
Walk into any Apple Store and you’ll be greeted by someone who, at first, you’ll think is a volunteer. What’s this girl doing asking me about Apple products? It’s only later on that you realize she’s part of the Genius group that provides valuable customer service, service which for the most part is the brand.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Customer service is your best marketing strategy http://bit.ly/1MkQJX