In catching up on my “tween-holidays” blog reading, I came across this article from The Social Customer which stated:
According to a recent survey, poor customer service costs $338.5B per year in lost business. The reasons for this lost business are when customers defect and abandon their purchases. The hardest hit industries across all countries surveyed are financial services, cable and satellite TV providers, and a variety of telecommunications companies.
If you’ve been reading this blog or talking to me in the past few months, you know that I’ve been talking about the need for a more consumer-centric approach to service. Since we as consumers have so much power (think about it – who do you trust more – recommendations on Yelp or the claims made by a restaurant about itself?) and influence over other customers, it only makes sense to have a good relationship with your customers, and that can (and should) mean going the extra mile to provide excellent service.
I’ll pay more to avoid dealing with douchey, ineffective service, and I’ll bet that you will too. What interested me the most about this article was a reaction I got after I tweeted it. My friend Dan Green wrote the following response:
It also GAINS $338.5B for other companies!
Is that really true, though? In all of the industries mentioned in the article (and some that weren’t), is there always someone ready to step into the void and provide the service others can’t, won’t or just don’t? If you’re in an industry known for horrible customer service, you have the opportunity to be the hero. Think about the ways that you can integrate superior customer service into your brand, possibly through social tools, possibly just by hiring people who will care.
I’m still annoyed by past problems with customer service for car rentals, cable companies and more. I’m sick of dealing with level upon level of people who have nothing to offer but a repetition of the instructions from the last person (and stop asking for my #&$%! name and address; I gave it once. Let’s all get on the same page here, mkay?) On the plus side, I remember companies that went the extra mile (I’m looking at you, Apple) because customer loyalty trumped standard operating procedure.
Look at the opportunities you have to gain the business lost by others and keep from losing business yourself. I firmly believe that excellent customer service is the cornerstone of the successful modern business plan.
Tags: Best Practices, Branding, Customer service, Marketing
