Poll Confirms Customer Service Is Key Differentiator... I am jaded...

Below I am commenting on and replicating a widely published summary of a recent poll.


Results confirmed that consumers overwhelmingly prefer good customer service over the hottest, most innovative product offerings and that most consumers tell others about their customer experiences, bad or good.


I want to share that I have grown jaded. This is the umpteenth voice in the wilderness making "the case". Yet, in practice and in my almost twenty years of customer service and customer focus consulting I have learned that the real key to success is not for a CEO to read this and delegate his/her organization to go this path. Essentials for successful customer management are at minimum: Leadership, Customer Measures and People Management. Leading from the heart and with passion and introducing 'soft measures' are and remain a perennial challenge and barrier to success in the typical North American business climate. Wall Street's 'quarteritis' impedes often adoption of longer term goals and investments in attaining them. Often one sees that privately held companies are much better at developing a long term vision, and sticking to it.


In a nutshell, this is my critical remark in the margin of what otherwise must be a positive contribution to helping more companies decide to focus on creating an inimitable Customer Experience.


Verint Systems Inc., announced the findings of a recent customer service survey conducted by Harris Interactive on its behalf . The results revealed that of those surveyed…

• 88 percent reported they find a company with good customer service more enticing than one with the hottest, most innovative product offerings. Only 12 percent preferred a company with the hot, innovative product.
• 90 percent report that, on average, they tell at least one person about a bad customer service experience, and 85 percent tell multiple people.
• 88 percent of customers tell at least one person - and 81 percent tell multiple people - about a good customer service experience.

“These survey results underscore the need for today’s businesses to more effectively manage customer relationships and place the customer at the center of the overall business process, shifting away from the traditional product-centric approach,” says Michael Lowenstein, vice president of customer loyalty management at Harris Interactive. “The consumers’ voice is loud and clear; in an increasingly competitive market, the overall customer experience is the key differentiator in driving brand loyalty. Companies need to understand customer needs and make them priorities in order to consistently meet and exceed expectations.”
“Recognizing the need to deliver a superior customer experience, today’s forward-thinking organizations are investing in customer-centric management strategies and solutions, which enable them to enhance business processes to more effectively address customers’ wants and needs,” adds Nancy Treaster, senior vice president and general manager, Verint Witness Actionable Solutions. “The results of this survey clearly demonstrate the need for actionable intelligence generated across traditional customer interaction points - including contact centers, branches and back-office operations - as highly critical for consumer-facing businesses.”