The Importance of Customer Service

No organization, no matter how big, is impervious to the effects of poor customer service. It’s when you fall subject to that mindset that someone will notice your weakness, improve upon your offerings and pull the rug out from under your success. Given, this might happen anyway throughout the natural lifespan of products/services/brands, but basic offerings (i.e. great customer service) will provide a higher client retention rate and help ward off competitors lurking in the shadows.

I can’t stress the importance of this feature if you’re relying on vendors to fulfill selected services. My experience, for example—
On Tuesday my car had some issues, so I pulled over and hastily called the AAA for a tow. As always, they promised to rescue me within the hour and instructed me to stay in a safe place. Not a problem. Two hours later in below-freezing temperatures, the tow truck arrived to an Allison-sicle on the verge of screaming grotesque expletives .

Thankfully, I maintained my cool (which, for the record, is not hard to do in 16 degree weather,) and no lives were lost in the process. As it turns out, the fault was with the vendor (tow company) who didn’t respond when called. And, in true form, the AAA maintained a high standard of customer service by making apologetic follow-up calls with promises of never using that tow company again, and discounting my membership for the upcoming year.

That’s all it takes. A little TLC goes a long way.