Today, Seth Godin tackles the issue of customer service. It’s his position that most of of us have given great service, and that’s why we’re so upset at bad service.
I’m not convinced. I think most of us think we do, but we’re kidding ourselves. We talk a good game, with mission statements, memos from the CEO, and the like. But many corporate mantras are accompanied, out of the public eye, with orders to cut expenses. So head count gets slashed, and training gets eliminated, and we’re left with an overwhelmed, poorly trained, unmotivated front line.
And then the marketing department tells the ad guy that “our people make the difference.”
I agree; putting energy towards delivering a remarkable experience on an individual level to customers is the most genuine and most sustainable kind of advertising. Contrast with putting energy towards telling customers how remarkable the experience is: creating it for real nutures every other part of the business as well.
There’s an old saying — “Good marketing will kill a bad business.”
Advertising makes a promise to the consumer. The expression “friendly and knowlegable staff”, in addition to being a cliche, is often a flat-out fib. When a customer walks into a store and encounters someone who is rude, clueless, or both, all the ad dollars are wasted.
Great site and interesting reading