Does Anyone Care About Customer Service?

cartoon by @gapingvoid

I was at an event last week, and engaged in a pleasant conversation with a fellow who worked for a local corporation. This gentleman had a decent job and wasn’t worried about losing it. In fact, it was apparent to me that he was very comfortable and almost complacent.

Being the marketing guy I am, I of course asked him about his role in the company’s marketing. His answer? “I don’t have a role in the company’s marketing.”

It amazes me every time I hear that. Sadly, it doesn’t surprise me anymore. Because what I know is that customer service is a very big piece of marketing, and most people, like the corporate gentleman cited above, don’t understand that.

But at this same event I run across a half dozen folks who are solopreneurs, people who do the sales, admin, and the product work – all themselves. These are the sort that do most of their sales and marketing at networking events, and you see them everywhere running the networking circuit. When I ask them the same question, their answer is different, but the same. Although being 100% responsible for their marketing, their answer is usually something like “I just don’t have the time” or “my budget is tight, so I have to cut back on my marketing.”

This too vexes me. But again, I am not surprised. And in their case, they aren’t even thinking about customer service. They are talking about the sales process…

Before I go on, I want to define what I mean by “marketing” when I ask the questions above. I am talking about an intense focus on your prospective and/or current customer. And focusing intensely on their overall experience. And by that I mean their pre and post-purchase experience. Customer service in other words.

Now when I proclaim to them that neither care about customer service, both snap back at me and proclaim “how dare you say that.” But deep inside, you know I am right. Now that said, both do probably care about customer service, but do both really CARE about customer service? We all know exercise is important, but a lot of us sit on the couch and watch old reruns of Seinfeld…

Watch this video of David Meerman Scott. He is describing the corporate guy above:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TxPAC6e7HE]
The point that David is making in this video is that the corporate folks are sitting around in meetings making stuff up and guessing, instead of mixing it up, engaging and getting dirty with real prospects and customers — finding out what they really want and need. [and yes, social media is a great way to get out in the world, ask these questions, and get answers]

What I am getting at here is twofold: One, every member of a larger organization, from the C-Level executive to the receptionist, has an important role in customer service. It’s not just the people answering the customer service hot line — and I will submit a majority of people answering that phone don’t care about customer service either…

And two, the typical solopreneur I run across on a daily basis believes they don’t have the time to focus on customer service, let alone sit back and think about ways to innovate and make it better. I’ve got a message for you: that should be ALL you think about.

We all need to be aware that today’s consumer has more ability to publicly comment about their customer experience – pro or con – than ever before. As a result, we need to be more attuned and focused on the customer experience than ever before. And I mean INTENSELY FOCUSED. OBSESSIVELY SO.

Every member of an organization, from middle management in a large company, to the one-man shop, needs to focus on the following:

1. Improving the pre-purchase experience
2. Improving the post-purchase experience
3. How to better handle customer problems
4. Better enabling sharing and helping spread the word about you and your service
5. Don’t sell. Serve. Help. Build. Grow.

Yeah, there are other things you could be thinking about. But a focus on the above five will be a strong baseline with which to start. So, get out of that cubicle or conference room, and start really understanding how you can spend time improving on the five items listed above. If you are the solopreneur, shift your paradigm and your thinking on your marketing, execution, and admin to how you can improve on those five things.

To survive in today’s marketplace, you have no choice.

Now, many of you solopreneurs will be angry with me for saying that you aren’t as focused on customer service as you should be. Do you know why I am saying that? Because I am one of you. As much as I talk about it, I need to do a better job of it myself. And I can promise you that increasing my focus on improvements on those five items above will be a MAJOR goal of my 2010 calendar year.

What do you think? Let us know!

Be Intrepid.

Tagged as: Customer Experience, Customer Loyalty, Customer Service, Sales, Social Media, Solopreneur, Todd Schnick