Back in the early days of HR Bartender, I wrote a post about how Customer Service is the New Marketing. And I still believe it. The way an organization interacts with its current, potential and past customers is critical. The businesses I’ve worked for in the past had huge competitive sets; meaning customers had lots of selection. A key differentiator was our customer service.
But what I have noticed since I wrote that initial post, is customer service is starting to take on a tiered approach. What I’m seeing are three tiers in customer service and here’s how they take shape:
The first level and most transactional is what I’d call plain old customer service. A company offers a product/service and customer needs that product/service. Transaction happens. Money changes hands. No major snafus occur.
The next level is customer engagement. BTW – I believe this level is being driven by the popularity of social media. Customers can follow and 
interact with their favorite companies. Companies can engage. It’s not about buying the product or service…at least not right away. It’s about building a relationship and loyalty so when a customer is ready to buy, they will immediately purchase from the company they’ve been engaged with all that time.
The third level is customer intimacy. This is the term used by CEOs in the IBM study I shared with you a few weeks ago. It’s a place where companies are close enough to their customers that they can begin to anticipate a customer need and respond accordingly.
Obviously, these levels of customer interaction are predicated upon each other. No one is going to engage with a company that can’t get basic customer service right. And no one is going to share with a company their needs if they’re not engaged with them. This is your standard Maslow’s hierarchy-type pyramid with customer service on the bottom and customer intimacy at the top.
From a business perspective, lots of companies get customer service right. But few get engagement and even less will recognize the value of customer intimacy. Obviously, companies who do focus on building greater relationships with their customers will see the return in the forms of profitability and market share (as long as they do it right).
Here’s the real question: Who will own the responsibility for developing the customer service strategy in your company? What I’ve traditionally seen is marketing shares with people what the customer wants, then operations hires for it and human resources trains employees. Yes, we’ve all heard the statement that customer service is everyone’s responsibility. And I agree, everyone needs to participate. But really, who will own it, communicate it and drive the plan?
It seems to me the only way this will work is if there is a clear strategy and standards where the customer is concerned. Along with having people at every level support the strategy. And a definite department who will be held accountable.
Ben says
Really helpful post, thank you! Customer service seems to be overlooked sometimes, and its so important towards the success of a business. We have a great article about the costs of losing customers which supplements your argument really well. I’d be really interested in hearing your thoughts.
http://www.drakepulse.com/2011/the-real-costs-of-losing-customers-part-1/
Lorne Pike says
Another interesting post, Sharlyn. Wow, I’m realizing I haven’t commented here in a long time! I like the three levels as you’ve identified them, and agree that, like Maslow’s hierarchy, a company has to conquer one before it can really attain the next. To add to that though, I think even a company at the first level can borrow elements from the second or third. Engaging with and intimately knowing a customer can be accomplished through even the most basic transactions with proper planning and ongoing diligence. True, the corner store will never have a CRM system detailing the background and needs of all its clients, but it can continually get to know and understand the “regulars.” Over time, even the tiniest operation can become pretty impressive at caring for the people who matter most to it. Or do you feel I’m missing something in there?
Thanks again for a great post, Sharlyn. Great to reconnect with you!
Michael Bethuy says
The trick is implementing an organizational structure that will support this. For example, if you reward your sales people for new sales they will naturally continue to chase the customers who are ready to buy immediately rather than nurturing existing customers. Implementing profit sharing plans can help, but even that can be a too intangible. It might be interesting to give sales people an increasing commission based on the age of the customer, thereby rewarding repeat sales from existing clients. Additionally, intimacy almost by definition requires personal relationships. You should assign each customer to a dedicated account manager or support team (to the extent that your business model allows of course).
Sharlyn Lauby says
@Ben – Thanks for sharing the article! I’m a big advocate of calculating the lifetime cost of a customer and sharing it during customer service training. That’s a great perspective that most people aren’t aware of.
@Lorne – Thanks for the comment! I really enjoyed reading the follow-up you wrote to this post.
@Michael – Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed reading your perception. It reminded me of a company I worked for where each member of the executive team was assigned key accounts with a sales manager. I was responsible for staying on top of what that customer was doing and went on visits with the sales manager. Great experience for me to learn more about the sales side of the business.