Thursday, December 07, 2006

What Do Customers Expect? - Customer Service

In the on going battle to bring business from the dark ages into the 21st century of customer centered services the defining of what a customer wants has come down to the tug of war between the conceptual idealization of the marketing departments and consultants and that of the customers themselves.

Even in the most forthright of customer service blogs and articles, customer service ideologist have been mislead by the marketing world into identifying marketing concepts as customer service ideologies and perspectives, even to the point of re-labeling traditional marketing jargon to quack like a duck, however underneath the quack there ain’t no waddle. Businesses need to be careful of being mislead in the application of policies that are selfserving and hollow pulling them away from the purpose of customer service and their customer's (market segment)expectations.

It is of the greatest importance that businesses understand the direct relationship between customer service and customer expectations in the terms of the customer not in the terms of the marketing traditionalist. Until businesses can do that and understand how to integrate this "customer perspective" into their marketing, branding, sales and policy development, they will never win the hearts of their potential customers and loyalty as elusive as it is will always be a fleeting fancy.

Soul proprieters and small enterprize companies need to pay even closser attention to how they center their over all planning strategies and growth focus.

We invite any and all comments.

8 comments:

Customer Justice said...

Hi Tim,

I really liked your blog and what you have written. We have started a new blog, and would love to have people like you share their ideas with us.
It would be great if you could join our blog. WOuld you be interested? In case you are send me an e-mail.

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

For satisfying the customer the good customer service is must.To maximize customer satisfaction and ensure partner readiness, providing education services to customers and partners has become a competitive requirement for many organizations.If the customers is aware of each and every product they will happy if they happy your business will go up and up.

Anonymous said...

It is sales that draws in customers, but it is the customer service that keeps them loyal to a company. We should have the technology and the personnel needed to provide for them. We should assemble a competent, efficient, effective call center and call answering system to suit their needs in keeping in touch with our client, and still provide them with that important human touch.

Anonymous said...

GOOD Customer service is so important! You need it to get the customers saticfaction and more importantly you need it to get the customer loyalty. I recenlty have come across a great and very informational website called Mindshare. I loved it and found it to be very helpful.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous I like the way to promote ur business (mindshare) yes thats true that customer service is very important for any business and lively hood for any business whether is mine or ur.

CallCentersIndia Inc,

Anonymous said...

I have talked with people with Customer Service programs the likes of which I have seen in the early 1990s. These are Customer Service programs that dwell only on frontline activities. Most of the enterprises then equate Customer Service to handling complaints, taking phone calls or routing request for warranty. No wonder so many enterprises create more enemies of Customers instead of keeping them. They have no idea what the whole concept is all about!

Customer Service in my perspective and my experience is more than that. It is a commitment of an organization to deliver the information and services that forms an integral part of your marketing mix. The whole organization is the delivery vehicle of Customer Service not just the frontline.

You are absolutely right: "customer service ideologist have been mislead by the marketing world into identifying marketing concepts as customer service ideologies and concepts, even to the point of
re-labeling traditional marketing jargon to quack like a duck,..."

Call Centers Philippines said...

We should remember that customers is always right. If we would like to give a superb services to our customers, then we should always remember this.

Order Processing Fulfillment said...

It's kind of an important question, but it isn't one that has received a lot of discussion or actual action, oddly enough.As quoted, "One of the most exciting things about selling is exceeding customer expectations"

Customers get excited about the questions you ask and the ideas you discuss because they truly differ from what your competition offers. Your unique questions and the time you spend in needs analysis impress them, and you become privy to information nobody else has. This puts you at a distinct advantage - but only if you utilize the information.