Customer Service - A Sweet Essence

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Customer Service - A Sweet Essence

Customer Service - A Sweet Essence

First let us specifically define customer service. It is the performance of a duty or responsibility due to a customer as a result of selling them a product or service.

We must distinguish between customer sales and service versus customer service. Whereas customer sales and service is largely concerned with selling an additional item or an additional service subsequent to an initial sale, customer service is mainly concerned with customer care.

True customer service is synonymous with "ACCOMMODATION". When we sell a product or a service we accept the responsibility and the obligation to potentially provide our customers with a broad range of possible actions. These actions we define as customer service and may include necessary "ACCOMMODATIONS" to make the initial product or service reasonably useful in the way it was intended and in the way that it was marketed.

"Due to unusually heavy call volume our customer service agents are busy helping other customers. Your call is important to us. Please continue to hold? Please continue to hold? Please continue to hold?" No article on customer service would be complete without addressing automated telephone systems. We are all consumers. It does not matter what else we do, whether we are manufacturers or clerks or customer service agents. We should make ourselves available so that our customers can speak with us. Nothing beats face to face contact but the next best thing is a person's voice. Overall, I believe that automated phone systems may be the worst single tool ever invented for all of us as consumers.

There are a very few select companies whose systems serve us well by pointedly and quickly getting us fast service. But the vast majority of these automated telephone systems are nothing more than roadblocks to consumers. We have all been there and have been frustrated all too often. You might as well try to call the president of the United States.

WE, ALL OF US, ARE PUTTING EACH OTHER ON HOLD ON THE TELEPHONE LINE... !!!

Why not hire a live breathing caring human being who knows their job depends on their customer. This is not rocket science!

When was the last time that you received outstanding customer service? Did you feel like you wanted to do more business with that company? Did you like the people who were helping you? Right there is one of the most powerful forces in customer service - customer loyalty and retention. What else is there in business with such a sweet essence.

Biography: Since 1979 Jim Hoyle has owned and operated Lamp Manufacturer Factory Outlet. The company designs and manufactures truly unique lamps and acquires genuine antique vintage lamps through very special situations. They drop ship lamps worldwide for catalog companies, stores, designers, individual decorators and internet based companies of all kinds. Contact Jim at: junguljim@peoplepc.com or his company's website at http://www.hoylelamps.com

In The News:

APAC Customer Services Expands in Panama
MarketWatch (press release)
BANNOCKBURN, IL, May 23, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- APAC Customer Services, Inc. (APAC) announced the opening of a new, state of the art contact center in Panama. The new site commenced operations on May 17th. The opening included a gala event and ...

Bottomline Technologies Named 2012 Quality Service Provider of the Year
MarketWatch (press release)
The Awards, sponsored by the Institute of Customer Service, highlight and reward organizations and individuals that have implemented successful customer service strategies. The participants in this prestigious event include many of the largest ...

and more »

Moneycontrol.com
Vodafone Wants to Replicate Amazon's Customer Service Success
Wall Street Journal (blog)
“Vodafone wants to be the Amazon of telecos,” not in terms of selling but rather top-class customer service, Mr. Colao told reporters at a lunchtime briefing. The UK-based company plans to refit 75% of its 2200 stores around the world by 2015 to give ...
Vodafone CEO details 'Supermobile' strategy to mimic AmazonFierceWireless

all 58 news articles »

Augusta T-Mobile customer service center not affected by restructuring
The Augusta Chronicle
By Gracie Shepherd T-Mobile announced a corporate restructuring plan this week that will result in 350 net job reduction, but it will not effect the Augusta customer service center. Approximately 900 positions are being eliminated as a result of these ...
T-Mobile in Springfield holding hiring eventKSPR

all 2 news articles »

Is Your Customer Service Multichannel?
Huffington Post
The Challenge: Just as businesses must provide customers with a wide variety of marketing channels to choose from, they must allow a choice of multiple service channels. As we've discussed previously, multichannel marketing enables delivery of messages ...

and more »

Rio Bank Enhances Customer Service and Teller Efficiency with Self-Service ...
MarketWatch (press release)
The Cummins Allison self-service coin counter has helped Rio Bank differentiate themselves from other banks in their market, deliver personalized customer service and streamline teller efficiency. Prior to the coin counter, tellers used a mostly manual ...

and more »

Customer Service Rep
WEAU-TV 13
The cost per job listing is a mere fraction of similar services, while reaching a substantial local audience. To list a job, please click the "Post a Job" icon. All job listings will remain on the Job Board for 30 days. WEAU 13 News will archive all ...

and more »

Coveo Survey of Customer Care Executives Finds Customers, Executives and ...
MarketWatch (press release)
In the survey of more than 120 customer service and support executives conducted April 17 at the 2012 Customer Care Leadership Forum in New York, only 15 percent reported that their customers, if asked, would say that they could get to information they ...
Companies Lack Contextual Customer Data1to1 Media (blog)

all 3 news articles »

SciQuest Names Customer Service and Operations Management Leader Teresa B ...
MarketWatch (press release)
Jamison brings more than 23 years of experience and proven success in customer service and training and operations management at leading healthcare IT organizations to SciQuest. As vice president of customer operations, she will lead SciQuest's ...

and more »

Marketron Focuses on Customer With Company Realignment
Sacramento Bee
By Marketron HAILEY, Idaho, May 23, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Marketron, the leading provider of software solutions and services for the media industry, today announced a reorganization of its leadership team to better serve and support its customers and ...
Marketron reorganizes senior-level management into sales and client serviceRadio-Info.com

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