Marketing and SalesCustomer Relationship Management

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• Major Point: Traditional views of service excellence are unattainable; instead, companies should strive to deliver great service in a few carefully chosen dimensions.

• Concrete Example: Southwest Airlines focuses on low prices and reliable, fun service, deliberately giving up on assigned seating and in-flight meals to deliver on what matters most to their customer base.

• Action Step: Identify the key service attributes that matter most to your customers and focus resources on excelling in those areas while consciously underperforming in less critical areas.

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• Major Point: Exceptional service often involves customers contributing to the service process.

• Concrete Example: Zipcar leverages technology to make car rentals more convenient, but customers take care of tasks like refueling the car and reporting damages. This self-service model reduces costs and increases availability.

• Action Step: Assess the service process to identify opportunities where customer involvement can enhance the service experience while reducing operational costs.

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• Major Point: A company’s internal culture directly impacts customer service. Employees should be empowered and motivated to deliver exceptional service.

• Concrete Example: Commerce Bank hires for personality and attitude, placing a premium on interpersonal skills over banking experience.

• Action Step: Create hiring criteria that emphasize the attributes necessary for delivering great service, and invest in continuous training that aligns employees with the company’s service standards.

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• Major Point: Good service requires making deliberate trade-offs. Companies cannot be all things to all people, and attempts to do so often dilute service quality.

• Concrete Example: The Commerce Bank operates with extended hours to distinguish itself in convenience, even though this increases operational costs. They sacrifice some efficiency to achieve higher customer satisfaction in a critical area.

• Action Step: Identify areas where being exceptional matters most to customers and willingly make sacrifices in other areas to reinforce your strategic focus.

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• Major Point: Merely tracking conventional service metrics isn’t sufficient. Metrics should be tied to behaviors and outcomes that drive customer satisfaction and loyalty.

• Concrete Example: Intuit measures the “Customer Delight Index,” which assesses not just satisfaction but enthusiasm and advocacy, to refine its customer service strategies.

• Action Step: Develop and track metrics that reflect the true drivers of your customer’s satisfaction and loyalty, and use these insights to guide service improvements and employee incentives.

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• Major Point: Simplicity in service delivery reduces errors and increases efficiency, enhancing the overall customer experience.

• Concrete Example: Shouldice Hospital specializes in hernia operations with a focused, streamlined process, leading to higher success rates and patient satisfaction.

• Action Step: Streamline service processes to eliminate unnecessary complexity. Focus on perfecting a few core operations to drive better outcomes consistently.

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• Major Point: Touching customers emotionally makes the service experience memorable and encourages loyalty.

• Concrete Example: Zappos is renowned for its customer service, often going above and beyond to create emotional connections with customers, such as thanking customers with handwritten notes.

• Action Step: Look for opportunities to deliver surprising and delightful experiences beyond the functional interaction, such as personalized gestures or unexpected acts of kindness.

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• Major Point: Transparency in operations builds trust and informs customers about what they can expect, which enhances their perception of service reliability.

• Concrete Example: Domino’s Pizza Tracker allows customers to see exactly where their pizza is in the preparation and delivery process, creating a sense of engagement and expectation management.

• Action Step: Use technology or communication strategies to make operational processes visible to customers, setting clear expectations and building trust.

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• Major Point: Engaging customers in designing service solutions can lead to more effective, tailored services that meet real needs.

• Concrete Example: Starbucks’ “My Starbucks Idea” platform allows customers to submit suggestions and vote on new ideas, leading to innovations like free Wi-Fi and birthday rewards.

• Action Step: Create forums or platforms where customers can contribute ideas and feedback, fostering a sense of community and enhancing the service offering through real customer input.

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• Major Point: Pricing strategies should align with the perceived value and service level, ensuring customers feel they are getting fair value for what they pay.

• Concrete Example: Panera Bread’s “pay-what-you-want” model in some locations ties directly to their customers’ perceived value and social mission, leading to enhanced customer trust and community engagement.

• Action Step: Review and adjust pricing strategies to ensure they reflect the service quality and value customers perceive, potentially experimenting with value-based pricing or flexible pricing models.

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Marketing and SalesCustomer Relationship Management