The Importance of Customer Service

Do you and your family have a black list of stores you will no longer shop at? My husband and I certainly do. Do you want to know why these stores have make “our list”? Customer service, or lack thereof.

I’m sure you have your own personal customer service nightmare story. I have a few.

Translate that, if you will, to your company. Do you think your customers/clients (or past customers and clients) have nightmare customer service stories about you and your company? It’s worth thinking about.

There’s no reason to be rude or insulting, obviously. To build on that, there’s no reason to not return a call or e-mail. How about being proactive? Do those ‘nice things’ that, by themself, may not mean that much, but that, in fact, have an exponential effect due to the good will they generate. Connect people, send a thank you note, send a birthday card, call for a quick non-business-related chat.

Personal connections rule the world. We may forget that while we’re Blackberrying, twittering, and e-mailing, but it doesn’t make it any less true.

Big Brother

Something struck me as I was reading through my latest copy of The Public Relations Strategist (Spring 2009). “In 2009, Big Brother is now a vast, collective and diverse group of individuals, organizations and industries watching the Internet and sometimes acting upon the information that they obtain.” This quote is in an article titled “Social Networking Media Present New Ethical Challenges for Public Relations” by Tim O’Brien, APR.

It truly is Big Brotherish out there. You hear seasoned celebrities make comments all the time, grateful that they didn’t come of age as a celebrity in this, the digital media age, because, today, they could not have gotten away with the things that they did then.  A listtle closer to home, where home is our marketing and public relations world, no longer is an irate or unhappy customer relegated to their simple letter to customer service and a few phonecalls to same. Today, these same disappointed customers take to the blogs and forums, loudly proclaiming to all who listen their woes with you and your company.

Today, everyone is watching, listening, and talking. You need to be aware, and you need to likewise - and you may need to respond. Or at least have a plan in place on how to react. But, more on that later.