Customer service is a great, right? Don’t you just love the warranties, guarantees, after-sales service and the zealous employees? How about the free stuff and frantic apologies when something goes wrong? Today, we are thoroughly pampered by companies because we are operating in what marketers call the ‘Customer Service Era.’
The evolution of marketing has evolved from being ‘production’ centric in the 1920’s to being customer centric in present times. Thus, the stage we are currently operating in has been ‘creatively’ labeled as the customer service era. We will soon post the theory of marketing and the eras in between the aforementioned, only for those interested of course!
So my question is that can companies work against their interests by overdoing the quest for ‘customer satisfaction/ experience.’ Allow me to bestow upon you a very personalized example. I am the type of customer who likes to shop without being watched and that’s why I don’t shop at Macy’s. By the time I enter the store and make my way to the escalator, at least four women would have handed me perfumed strips that I really did not want or bombarded me with details of special offers in the cosmetics section. Then, while browsing the clothes, I am approached by an employee who is oh so pleasant and curious about what I am looking for today. I take 10 steps to my right and viola there is someone else who wants to help me. Before I know it, I’m dodging super eager employees at a departmental store and then decide to shop some where I don’t feel supervised and smothered. So much for customer loyalty.
We customers can easily differentiate between employees who genuinely want to help us verses employees who have been trained to greet or wish us a nice day when we leave the store. In my opinion, the art of customer service lies in its implementation and when done genuinely and correctly it will reflect in the behavior of the customers.
