Friday, May 4, 2012

customer care or operations?

 brands or firms which specialize in offering services to end users, proudly boast  that they run big "customer care" departments.

Unfortunately what they fail to grasp, is the huge difference that lies between the way  a firm/brand claims to "care" about the client and the way it actually handles  the client when an unfortunate situation arises.

To run customers' logistics, to provide the service and of course to be there when things go wrong,  seems and actually is -most of the time- the easiest thing in the world. But when things fail to  run according to  plan, then the difference between simply managing the situation as opposed to  caring about the customer and accomodating to his  semingly insignificant needs,  is what makes for  excellent customer service.

Customers in our era , want to be made to feel special, particularly since  they have the option to choose among many brands offering  similar service.  To get connected and  stay loyal to a brand becomes the real   issue . The way a brand treats the  people who have chosen to purchase their services when things go wrong is the deciding factor to brand loyalty.

For a brand, things should be centered around  "how can people  be made to feel trust and secure about my service" . To convey through concrete actions to clients that they are important and appreciated by the firm  as opposed to  being treated  as unimportant individuals  who gave  their  money in exchange for a completely unpersonalized service.

The more humanized and personalized the customer support  is, the more it will be   trusted by clients and the more clients  it will attract. 

Nowadays people have less time than before to do things properly.   Therefore what they need to feel is  that even though it is  easy for a company to cheat  them, the brand they trust will always appreciate and go the extra mile for  them.

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