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Top : Business of Customer Service: It's easy to forget that companies provide customer service for business reasons, and are also constrained by business realities. Here we'll look at these issues.
Customer Service and Business Strategy - The Business of Good Service
As customers, we'd all agree that companies should offer the best customer service possible. But that's customers talking. In fact, it's not practical from a business sense to spend more on customer service than is necessary to achieve business goals. Customers might not like that reality, but businesses can't help if they go out of business.
In this section, we'll tackle the issues of customer service as a business tool, and how companies can and should use customer service effectively, and in a fiscally responsible way.
After all, businesses are in business to make a profit, so we'll look at return on investment issues, and even why companies don't do the best they can
Customer Service As A Business Tool
Results Count ... everything else is conversation.: ROI %u2013 Obsession or psychosis? - by naIt's a tough world out there in this economy. In order to compete on more than price, companies are trying to differentiate by investing in customer service. Retailers are spending more on everything from hiring and training better sales people, to using social media to enhance service and follow-up. Do investments in customer service yield a better ROI than marketing? The slippery slope of ROI requires more than just metrics to analyze what produces an incremental gain in sales and profit (Added: 13-Jul-2011 Hits: 45 )
What is the Real Cost of Customer Service Training? - by Customer Service Training Institute
I thought I'd find the answer here, but I guess the Customer Service Training Institute doesn't know. No numbers, no real costs, and I guess they claim it saves money, but no numbers to back it up. Wonder if they think their customers are stupid. (Added: 22-Aug-2010 Hits: 521 )
Good customer service costs money; some expenses are worth it, and some aren't - by Ryan Chittum
hat balancing of costs and benefits is exactly how companies should approach their spending on customer service, says Bjorn Hanson, a principal with the hospitality practice of accounting and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. "Look at service as, 'Do we get more revenue than incremental cost and therefore profit margins are higher?'" he says. (Added: 13-Jul-2011 Hits: 43 )
The REAL Cost of Customer Service: Can You Afford It? - ColderICE: Ecommerce Social Business | ColderICE: Ecommerce Social Business - by John Lawson
Interesting start to the article, but kind of cuts off when things get interesting, but the CONCEPT here -- that customer service is a business tool that must serve the bottom line, is important. Excerpt: As long as I’ve been a retailer I’ve heard from the pundits that “Customer Service is the most important thing you can offer ”. When I owned a bricks and mortar store, Nordstrom’s was the example, for online sellers, Zappos is the shining star. But, as a small business, can you afford to offer outlandishly good customer service? new (Added: 7-May-2012 Hits: 0 )
The Real Cost of Customer Servic - by Paul B. Brown
As a result of Direct Tire's fanatical attention to customers, its margins are twice the industry average. Here's how owner Barry Steinberg calculates the returnon his investment. (Interesting, check out the date if you think focus on the customer is a "new" thing) new (Added: 7-May-2012 Hits: 0 )
The True Cost Of Customer Service - by Bill Watters
This is a typical post that repeats the "wisdom" of customer service advocates, and not surprisingly isn't titled accurately. It doesn't deal at all with the cost of customer service, although it attempts to deal with the costs of bad customer service (it doesn't do that either). (Added: 22-Aug-2010 Hits: 674 )
Why Customer Focus Differentiates - by Ray Miller
Has this ever happened to you? You're in a hurry. You want to complete your business and the person serving you is preoccupied with something other than serving you. Then when you are served, you might get an insincere apology for the delay followed by the completion of your transaction. If asked to describe this experience you would likely respond "That's typical" or "It's nothing more and probably a little less than I expected."" "Welcome to the world of the average consumer." "Most people will probably tell you that good service is just common sense. They would also invariably say "For something so common, it sure is hard to find!" Edward R. Murrow said it very well:""What is obscure, we eventually see. What is obvious usually takes a little longer."" "Research from a litany of reliable sources tells us that the primary reason that customers switch their loyalty from one company to another, in the range of 40% to 68%, is because of a perceived attitude of indifference on the part of the service provider. Sure, some leave because of price, or product quality, or other personal reasons; but the vast majority leave because of Poor Service." (Added: 17-Dec-2010 Hits: 382 )
Customer Service and the C-Suite - by Richard Natoli
Why the C-Suite isn't backing your Customer Service vision. (Added: 18-Aug-2011 Hits: 77 )
The REAL Cost of Customer Service: Can You Afford It? - by Cindy Shebley
s long as I've been a retailer I've heard from the pundits that "Customer Service is the most important thing you can offer ". When I owned a bricks and mortar store, Nordstrom's was the example, for online sellers, Zappos is the shining star. But, as a small business, can you afford to offer outlandishly good customer service? (Added: 13-Jul-2011 Hits: 51 )
A Guide to Return on Investment in Customer Service - by Kinesis
Most business people would agree that there is value in good service. An abundance of literature exists supporting the notion that service can affect retention, spending, word-of-mouth endorsements and other customer activities that make a company more profitable. However, there are also many examples of companies with excellent service that chronically suffer from poor financial performance.""Good service is expensive. It requires research, training, measurement and the payout of incentives to managers and employees. Because it costs so much, companies struggle with the question of what their return on investment should be. Some even ask whether the investment is worth making at all. Could the money dedicated to improving service be more profitably spent in some other way? (Added: 13-Jul-2011 Hits: 42 )
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