As most successful companies are probably aware, providing top-notch customer service is a key to retaining consumers and thus, earning a profit.
Customer service can come in the form of in-store assistance, as well as over the phone and via email - and if your business doesn't have a service-based philosophy or culture, your bottom line could suffer.
Take, for example, online shoe retailer Zappos. The company is renowned for its customer service - likely because CEO Tony Hseig made sure it was the most important thing they did.
"Our philosophy has been to take most of the money we would have spent on paid advertising and invest it into customer service and the customer experience instead, letting our customers do the marketing for us through word-of-mouth," Hseig told Customer Service Manager.
This is vital because, as the Houston Chronicle points out, customer service can be a game changer when it comes to choosing one company over the other.
The news source points to the example of two competing small businesses with similar prices - if one consistently provides a more positive customer experience, they're likely to be the more profitable company.
Customer service representatives are also often the only contact a consumer has with a business. Some people can spend "hundreds and even thousands of dollars" per year at a certain company they're loyal to, so they expect in return to be treated properly when an issue arises, the Chronicle notes.
Call centers are a common form of service that not many companies seem to get right. Going back to the example of Zappos, a recent survey from mystery shopping site StellaSERVICE revealed that during the recent stretch of Black Friday to Cyber Monday, customers were able to speak to a company representative in just one minute and nine seconds on average - the fourth quickest among the top 25 retailers.
Hseig notes that this sort of commitment to service can act as a worthwhile branding device.
"An example of us using the telephone as a branding device is what happens when a customer calls looking for a specific style of shoes in a specific size that we're out of stock on," Hseig wrote, as quoted by CSM. "In those instances, every rep is trained to research at least three competitors' websites, and if the shoe is found in stock to direct the customer to the competitor. Obviously, in those situations, we lose the sale. But we're not trying to maximize each and every transaction. Instead, we're trying to build a lifelong relationship with each customer, one phone call at a time."