{"id":349,"date":"2015-04-27T18:03:44","date_gmt":"2015-04-27T18:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/csm210469\/?p=349"},"modified":"2016-04-20T15:06:43","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T15:06:43","slug":"the-keys-to-delivering-world-class-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/the-keys-to-delivering-world-class-service\/","title":{"rendered":"The Keys to Delivering World-Class Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jay Lipe shares his keys to delivering world-class customer service, namely: “The Three Pillars of Service Cool”.<\/strong><\/p>\n\"Keys\n

Every so often, I\u2019m hired by a company to develop a marketing plan for its business. Yet after conducting my initial assessment, I discover that the company\u2019s lack of a marketing plan isn’t the problem. The real problem is the company\u2019s poor service.<\/p>\n

For these companies, spending any money at all on marketing is like pouring fine wine down a sinkhole; a complete waste. If your company\u2019s service stinks, fix that first. Then, worry about promoting your company.<\/p>\n

The Three Pillars of Service Cool<\/strong><\/p>\n

Without great service, your company is doomed from the start. But what exactly constitutes great service? There are three basic elements; my Pillars of Service Cool.\u00a0They are: Timeliness, Follow through and Integrity.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Timeliness<\/strong><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s \u201cI want it now\u201d society, timeliness can be your company\u2019s trump card. Yet, too many companies don\u2019t seem to respect their customers\u2019 time. Witness:<\/p>\n

In a recent study by Jupiter Research, 33 percent of all Internet companies surveyed took three days or longer to get back to customers that had e-mailed for help.<\/p>\n

A study by Portland Research Group found that the average consumer must call a company 2.3 times before having their issue resolved.<\/p>\n

2. Follow-through<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is a golf swing without follow-through? Accumulated energy without an outlet. A beginning without an end. Effort without results. The same is true of a company\u2019s marketing. \u201cYou can have a terrible logo and pathetic signage, but if you are known for your incredible commitment and follow-through, you will be successful\u201d says Jim Logan, marketing consultant and popular blogger at www.jslogan.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cReverse the formula and you\u2019ll fail every time.\u201d With diligent follow through, your company will demonstrate its commitment, beyond a shadow of a doubt. From this, you can expect to reap repeat purchases, positive word-of-mouth, and referrals; the trifecta of successful marketing.<\/p>\n

3. Integrity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s buyers are a distrustful bunch. Is it any wonder? Just look at the ethical lapses seen in today\u2019s market:<\/p>\n

In 2005, Sony Pictures Entertainment quoted the praise of a nonexistent film critic to promote several of its films. For A Knight\u2019s Tale, The Patriot, and several other films, plaudits were attributed to David Manning, a supposed film critic at The Ridgeview Press. But at the time of the reviews, The Ridgeview Press, a weekly in Connecticut, did not even have a film critic on staff. Sony was ordered to pay $1.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit.<\/p>\n

McDonald\u2019s and the FBI once revealed that an employee of Simon Marketing, one of McDonalds\u2019 marketing agencies, had distributed winning game pieces for the \u201cMonopoly\u201d and \u201cWho Wants to Be a Millionaire\u201d promotions to a network of accomplices. The accomplices then claimed prizes ranging from $100,000 to $1 million.<\/p>\n

Abercrombie & Fitch, a favorite clothing brand among teenagers, launched a T-shirt line featuring such alcohol-related slogans as \u201cDon\u2019t Bother, I\u2019m Not Drunk Yet,\u201d \u201cBad Girls Chug, Good Girls Drink Quickly,\u201d and \u201cCandy Is Dandy, But Liquor Is Quicker.\u201d The T-shirt line was quickly withdrawn from the market when complaints from the media and advocacy groups surfaced.<\/p>\n

Marketers for these companies all showed an alarming lapse in ethics. To avoid blunders like these, I recommend holding your marketers to a higher ethical standard; that\u2019s why I\u2019ve created the Lipe Code of Marketing Ethics:<\/p>\n

The Lipe Code of Marketing Ethics<\/strong><\/p>\n