CUSTOMER SERVICE – THE BATTLE LINES OF CHANGE
By Valerie Lunden, MA

Welcome to Wal-Mart! How can we help you today?
Don’t you love the sound of great service – well, who doesn’t?

But in reality customer service can either be very good or very bad. Often when given an opportunity to receive service face to face, the impulse to wear a little tin badge on one's lapel that reads "Yes, I am YOUR Customer" might create just the right opportunity to get some competent attention.

But what does customer service have to do with becoming wealthy? Well, when it comes to money and finances, customers should get the best service, not just the best, but the very best. Phone calls not returned, E-mails not answered, the omission of basic courtesies cost all of us – BIG!

Over the last twenty years U.S. manufacturing has traveled to far off shores. For the most part this nation has become service-oriented. Where we bank, whom we invest with and whom we decide to do business with is a personal decision. Often we seek out referrals because there are just too many choices.

However, wherever we end up doing business, it seems more and more evident that the age-old practice of smiling, acknowledging customer problems and offering an expression of human understanding has become a neglected part of business. Indeed, in recent years companies have spent millions on a new type of customer service that is not even focused on customer needs, but focus instead on data accumulation. This new type is the installation of elaborate phone trees and most recently, the hiring of overseas call centers in India and Australia. These new services have reduced the level of personal contact to the bare minimum, and often consumers end up exasperated with their experience rather then satisfied.

In contrast there are a few organizations who have gotten it right and made lots of money in the process. Where Customer Service is concerned, Sam Walton of Wal-Mart fame seems to have made a significant impact. The idea of initiating a greeting to patrons when they enter one of his stores has translated into a national and international retail expansion of massive proportions. Sam appears to have built a lucrative retail empire by simply acknowledging his customers. Indeed, tapping into the human experience seems elemental at Wal-Mart and customers shopping here have responded to being noticed, have responded to having their needs met, and most of all, they have responded to being appreciated. Another success story is the retail chain Nordstrom. Where Sam Walton has built his reputation delivering a simple greeting, Nordstrom continues to deliver superior customer service throughout the buying experience and beyond.

Great service translates to wealth, expansion, identity and revenue. Acknowledging each sale, writing thank you cards, returning phone calls, calling for no reason at all - this seems to impress. If companies want your business, want your money, want your loyalty, perhaps they need to use contact methods that get your attention - in a positive way.

Where many businesses have come and gone, even those investing millions in expensive technology and elaborate phone trees, it is clear that there has never been a substitute for a simple and well-delivered acknowledgement!

The tin badge concept might not be necessary. Returning phone calls within 24-hours is a good thing. Returning E-mails within 24-hours is effective and efficient - the very least amount of effort. Saying hello to a client for no reason at all may feel awkward, but it can maintain and build the relationship.

Phone trees have their place, but positive human contact can make all the difference when it comes to making business relationships lasting and memorable. Do you have clients that need to hear from you? Are you a client waiting to hear back from a vendor? Maybe today is a good day to send that client that E-mail you've been meaning to send, or even better, just call them and offer a quick hello!