I was especially interested in Tom Vander Well’s … Customer Service Truths from Zappos.
Tom quoted from recent post from Mug Clubber, Maria Palma, about Zappos… which looked at Maria’s quote from this article about the company…
“We’ve just always believed that investing resources and money in improving customer service would eventually yield greater reach than an advertisement in a fashion magazine,” Hsieh says. “We didn’t build this business overnight, and there were times early on where we thought about going under every day. Yet slowly but surely our investment in a culture of service began paying dividends.”
Tom’s vitally important truths are found in this quote are also mine…
1. Customer Service is an Investment. Many companies throw tons of money into sales, marketing and branding and while too often ignoring the fact that...
2. ... quality customer service is sales, marketing and brand identity. Your company's purple cow could be standing right in your pasture disguised in black and white. Customer Service isn't always glitzy and glamorous, but it can be the most powerful differentiator you've got.
3. Creating a service culture doesn't happen overnight. One of the major reasons owners and managers don't invest time, money and energy into their customer service performance is because it's not a quick fix. We have witnessed companies who pay lip-service to Customer Service and have a Customer Service "Event" only so they could tell their stock holders they were "doing something" about customer service. A quick survey of their customers reveals that they never had the guts to make a lasting, long-term commitment to changing their corporate customer service culture. When it comes to being a World-class Customer Service leader, "slow and steady wins the race".
Do you agree with Tom that a service culture comes slowly? Here are 4 reasons why I agree with my customer guru friends … Tom and Maria … over this one…
1. The human brain builds habit and cultural proclivities into our basal ganglia.
2. Whenever we do good customer service that task is recorded and operational in the working memory
3. It takes time to move good customer service habits from the working memory – where they are unfamiliar to some firms… and come with cost and some discomfort … over into the deeply embedded basal ganglia part of the brain … where they take roots and change behavior for further good customer service.
Do you see why so few firms stay with customer service as a way to increase their bottom line. What would woo a company to stay with the services as they gather in the working memory… until the collective brain of that firm transfers then good service into the basal ganglia … where it is easy and pleasurable to perform good service. What do you think?
Comment Preview