The Weakest Link: Customer Service is Really the Only Thing That Matters

(2005-12-13) Turner & Associates/Stephen Turner

Even with billions of dollars spent each year on marketing, all it takes is one bad customer service experience to alienate potential clients.

It is the holiday season. An experience with a retailer, or call center or Web site should be positive. At a minimum, the company needs to acknowledge you, answer your call and be capable of processing your order. Billions of dollars are being spent by consumers this holiday season, and we all deserve to be treated as if we matter.

I run a creative agency in San Francisco and just we launched a new consumer product just in time for the holidays. We did it all, from creating the logo and packaging, to writing and developing the Web site and producing TV commercials. The weak link was a call center (and yes, this one is located here in the continental United States). When we called repeatedly to test their service, and they hardly ever answered the phone.

When it came time to get the attention of a supervisor, her cell phone was disconnected and she was unavailable on a landline. In going to their call center's corporate Web site after hours, it was impossible to get a phone number to call for their customer service. In fact, I personally tracked-down another one of their call centers in another state and miraculously got through to a supervisor. She refused to help me.

It turns out that the call center industry is huge, and customer service is one of the hottest topics right now. In fact, in doing book reviews, three out of the last twelve marketing books I reviewed were written on the topic of how to improve customer service. I call that a trend. There is a real need for every retailer and etailer out there to figure it out. All the spending on advertising, brand building, promotions and sales is flushed down the toilet when a rude customer service person destroys the joy of buying.

Janelle Barlow and Paul Stewart published a book in 2004 entitled "Branded Customer Service." Barlow and Stewart argued that a brand—and the promises associated with it — is a very special thing that touches people at an emotional level, and can be instantly destroyed when the experience falls short of the promise. The book provides a framework to start the process of making sure everyone in an organization — especially those who will interact with customers — really understand what their brand is all about and how it should be reflected in their service.

"Best Face Forward: Why Companies Must Improve Their Service Interfaces With Customers" suggests that it is difficult to find well-educated personnel who can exercise reasonable judgement to keep customers happy. This book was published in 2005 and written by Jeffrey F. Rayport and Bernard J. Jaworski. In essence, it argues that technology can be programmed to be predictable, whereas people who are willing to do customer service are not. With technology, customer service is scalable and more reliable, creating a competitive advantage if properly executed.

Major retailers are moving to the model of self service check-out, not so much to eliminate people, but to help customers gain satisfaction, in part, because that is how managers are evaluated — and compensated. The option of self-service allows a customer to bypass long lines. As it turns out, it also does generate higher profits. But the price for speed is that we all have to learn to operate barcode machines and do the job of cashiers.

Maybe one answer to customer service is to think about the workers themselves. One way to attract more motivated people is to offer them a reason to be happy. Eliminating the things that create customer dissatisfaction is a start. Too many products are complicated to assemble. Parts aren't always manufactured properly. And finally, marketers promise too much.

Stephen Turner is the CEO of Turner & Associates, a creative agency in San Francisco.

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