Comments for Blog: ARMA on Customer Service http://www.armainc.com/blog All about customer service and support Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:35:59 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 Comment on Cost and customer service by armainc http://www.armainc.com/blog/archives/177/cpage/1#comment-13 armainc Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:35:59 +0000 http://www.armainc.com/blog/archives/177#comment-13 Jonnie, That is a great way to look at it--costs a lot to lose a customer. You are absolutely spot on! We also agree with you regarding a customer service culture. Thank you for pointing these two crucial points out. ARMA Jonnie,
That is a great way to look at it–costs a lot to lose a customer. You are absolutely spot on! We also agree with you regarding a customer service culture.
Thank you for pointing these two crucial points out.
ARMA

]]> Comment on Cost and customer service by Jonnie Wright http://www.armainc.com/blog/archives/177/cpage/1#comment-12 Jonnie Wright Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:32:30 +0000 http://www.armainc.com/blog/archives/177#comment-12 I think the real answer is, it costs a lot to lose a customer and almost nothing to keep them, and the real problem is that most businesses don't know they've lost that customer - they just don't come back. The problem is that companies think they have to create "customer service departments" instead of creating a customer service culture in which every employee takes ownership of serving the consumer. All employees are in customer service - if they work for the company, they're in, regardless of what their title is. It's the same thing when I send out secret shoppers into my client's retail matrix and those employees ask me who those secret shoppers are - I tell them that ALL of us are "secret shoppers," and that we shop with our wallets - there's no secret to that. I think the real answer is, it costs a lot to lose a customer and almost nothing to keep them, and the real problem is that most businesses don’t know they’ve lost that customer – they just don’t come back.

The problem is that companies think they have to create “customer service departments” instead of creating a customer service culture in which every employee takes ownership of serving the consumer. All employees are in customer service – if they work for the company, they’re in, regardless of what their title is. It’s the same thing when I send out secret shoppers into my client’s retail matrix and those employees ask me who those secret shoppers are – I tell them that ALL of us are “secret shoppers,” and that we shop with our wallets – there’s no secret to that.

]]> Comment on Extreme customer service? by Jonnie Wright http://www.armainc.com/blog/archives/42/cpage/1#comment-2 Jonnie Wright Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:36:05 +0000 http://www.armainc.com/blog/archives/42#comment-2 This is a wonderful entry - I love the term "extreme customer service!" It has an obsessive/excessive feel to it that really cuts to the core of what the best of serving consumers is about. The one thing that strikes me as you list some of the methods of extreme customer service a particular business is using, is how common-place these actions once were...at least those you talk to who have been in retail/marketing more than 20 years. This was the norm, the expectation, by business owners of their employees and by consumers who were served by them. It speaks to the disconnect that's been created between consumer and retailer, an abyss that the internet has been more than happy to step in to and occupy. While I do have extreme service examples that jive with those listed, I have more examples that are the opposite of extreme, as in extremely bad lol. Thank you for the article and the information! This is a wonderful entry – I love the term “extreme customer service!” It has an obsessive/excessive feel to it that really cuts to the core of what the best of serving consumers is about.

The one thing that strikes me as you list some of the methods of extreme customer service a particular business is using, is how common-place these actions once were…at least those you talk to who have been in retail/marketing more than 20 years. This was the norm, the expectation, by business owners of their employees and by consumers who were served by them. It speaks to the disconnect that’s been created between consumer and retailer, an abyss that the internet has been more than happy to step in to and occupy.

While I do have extreme service examples that jive with those listed, I have more examples that are the opposite of extreme, as in extremely bad lol. Thank you for the article and the information!

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