m-cause

Photo Credit:  Ian Lord

I currently live in Switzerland…while I love most aspects of living here, customer service in restaurants is oftentimes less than stellar (to put it mildly).  I am not alone in this assessment (I hope I get a couple of comments on this post from friends backing up my claim in this area).  I realize that this is partially due to the way the incentive structure is set-up (e.g. waiters don’t receive nice “American style” tips).  In any case, a couple of recent LONG trips to Swiss restaurants, without much in the way of service got me thinking once again about the importance of customer service.  Over the past few months there have been some pretty good discussions on customer service and marketing in the blogosphere.  Some have even asked if customer service is the new marketing…while others have panned this notion.  Click here for a lively discussion on the topic (read the comments as well) courtesy of Ron Shevlin.

Indeed, as every customer now has the opportunity to evangelize products/services or rant against them via the net, customer service better be a key priority for companies.  Great customer service can drive customer loyalty…and if it is ultra-good, both “customer-bloggers” and the general public will amplify this, leading to broader levels of awareness and positive sentiment around the brand in the minds of people (see this example from customer service wizards Zappos). If customer service is really bad, you may see negative posts from angry consumer-bloggers online and elsewhere. In the absolute worst case, an entire grassroots movement (see Jeff Jarvis Dell Hell) may spring up around an issue.

So while customer service is very important, the marketing function should be held responsible for creating winning strategies to ensure marketplace success now and in the future.  The Marketing function has to stay on top of business results and coordinate the rest of the functions to ensure results are delivered.  Indeed, Brand managers within the marketing function in some companies play a big role in the coordination of production, sales, advertising, promotion, R&D, market research, purchasing, dist., package development and finance.   Finally, there needs to be someone to ensure that budgets are allocated properly across the increasingly unwieldy number of customer touchpoints.   Having said all of this the marketing function is interpreted differently within companies…and the world is definitely changing.  Marketing needs to become more collaborative and less controlling (more organic in a sense) to win in today’s marketplace.

Purpose:  Driving a service mindset across the org…

Ultimately, it would be great to see marketing thinking going beyond the function, becoming an almost “organization wide focus”, with every employee (janitors, cust. service reps, etc.) fully engaged behind the company/brand.  This could be more easily achieved if companies focus on providing products/services that have real value (not just another line extension) and humbly adopt a service mindset in everything that they do.  Adopting this service mindset will help create amazing experiences for consumers in the marketplace, helping the company/brand win the war for $’s in this brave new (and increasingly difficult) marketing world.

Somewhat related recent article:

Pete Blackshaw also recently wrote an AdAge article called How Apple Is Blurring the Line Between Marketing and Service as they increase the level of service at their stores by adding more “concierges” who greet and direct shoppers when they walk into the door.