Every time a brand suffers it's because of a bad experience. That can happen on many fronts: when you call a company; when you apply for a job at a company; when you talk to someone working at company "x" and they have less than stellar things to say. I spend a lot of time talking with people everywhere and the stories are so consistent that I started considering an innovative idea.
What if customer service were the new marketing?
We hear about word of mouth and viral marketing, we know that interruption marketing is broken and we are still figuring out how to do the permission part. Customers are already talking with you and giving you permission to talk with them. Why not use those opportunities to create a way to build a connection? What would happen if we put customers in charge? What if customers were the service? This is the topic of my post at FC Expert blogs today.
I really like the idea your propose in your FC Expert column especially because it takes an online concept - chat room or peer-to-peer support - and translates it to the offline world. It's clear that people are more than happy to go into online communities and ask for help or advice, wouldn't they be just as interested in joining a real live, face to face community in a place where they are doing business already? It also solves the retailer's problem of not being able to hire enough support staff by encouraging them to view their customers as a kind of asset.
Thanks!
Posted by: Matt Grant | May 04, 2007 at 10:06 AM
Valeria,
I couldn't agree more. Several articles I have written call for customer service to be under marketing, and in my next book, Lead With Your Heart, I dedicate lots of space to discussing great customer experiences and call again for customer service to fall under marketing.
Posted by: Lewis Green | May 04, 2007 at 11:01 AM
Valeria - exactly the roots of marketing in it's truest form are in customer service.
FYI - I officially curating an entire track at Supernova on "Markets & Relationships". We will be blogging all about it over at the new www.conversationhub.com. Would love your thoughts! Cheers, D
Posted by: deb schultz | May 04, 2007 at 05:02 PM
Matt -- I had such a positive experience as a result of our conversation and Jim's support at the store that I had to share it. That's how we build communities, and offline has the advantage of being local, which matters a great deal to retail stores.
Lewis -- One of the many reasons I like your posts is that you write about business overall and zero in some of the crucial aspects of doing things right. What's the time frame on the book? You will probably announce it at BizSolutionsPlus.
Deb -- Hello, I noticed more activity at your blog recently and suspected many projects were brewing. I'll check ConversationHub out. Anywhere conversations are happening is appealing.
Posted by: Valeria Maltoni | May 04, 2007 at 05:10 PM
Yes Valeria - it sure is!
Customer service is where you delight or annoy people - the ones that made the effort to contact you! They're also the ones that will shape your message in the word of mouth "marketing space".
I have been that evangelist and that detractor for several brands - and God knows I have a big mouth!!!!
Great post!
Ann
Posted by: ann michael | May 07, 2007 at 10:10 AM
Ann -- You know what you want, that is good. News travels extremely fast these days, even without blogs. And because we're all consumers and producers, we are able to switch point of view given the opportunity.
Posted by: Valeria Maltoni | May 07, 2007 at 12:07 PM