Comcast and Amex invest in Customer Service

Customer service is  being seen by the big players as a key growth driver according to this recent Wall Street Journal article.

So important is it that the article reports on an Accenture study that shows that 25% of 1,405 companies surveyed will be investing in this crucial area of business before anything else as the economy grows.

Many of the case examples in the article ring true to the basic premise that if you provide superior customer service you will engender superior customer loyalty.  In identifying ways to create a sustainable competitive advantage, service is often a winner.

Great service and service systems are often difficult to copy because, if done right, they can become deeply ingrained in an organisation’s culture.  Over the last few years we have encountered several organisations where service staff dedication to deliver the best customer service comes despite poor company systems and processes.

You just can’t replicate that culture of dedication overnight so it presents a strong customer value differentiation and a good sustainable competitive advantage..

Even Amex staff are being told to look for opportunities for related sales rather than focusing on ending the call as quickly and keeping the average handle time (AHT), and therefore costs, down.  Organisations like Amex are now starting to recognise that service contacts come along much more often than sales contacts can really drive incremental business profitability by using those contacts wisely.

In all of this however you must know which element of the service experience are the most important to customers.  To gather that knowledge you need to have an ongoing process to gather and apply those insights.  Transactional Net promoter Score (NPS) is one such system.  If you haven’t investigated this approach now might be a good time to start.  Before you invest in organisational change.