If you’re looking to boost customer satisfaction, one of the most promising places to start is customer service. Unfortunately, it’s also a place where long-term goals tend to buckle under short-term financial pressures. Companies try to meet Wall Street’s immediate demands by cutting costs through automation and outsourcing—despite a growing body of research conclusively showing that customers are fed up with lousy service and that increased satisfaction has a positive impact on consumer spending, cash flow, and business.... READ MORE

CALL IT THE DOMINANCE TRAP: the larger a company’s market share, the greater the risk it will take its customers for granted. As the money flows in, management begins confusing customer profitability with customer loyalty, never realizing that the most lucrative buyers may also be the angriest and most alienated. Worse, traditional market research may lead the firm to view customers as statistics. Managers can become so focused on the data that they stop hearing the real voices of their customers
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Anyone who has signed up recently for cell phone service has faced a stern test in trying to figure out the cost of carry-forward minutes versus free calls within a network and how it compares with the cost of such services as push to-talk, roaming, and messaging. Many, too, have fallen for a rebate offer only to discover that the form they must fill out rivals a home mortgage application in its detail. And then there are automated telephone systems, in which harried consumers navigate a mazelike menu in search of a real-life human being. So little confidence do consumers have in these electronic surrogates that a few weeks after the Web site www.gethuman.com showed how to reach a live person quickly at ten major consumer sites, instructions for more than 400 additional companies had poured in..... READ MORE

Your business creates "Word of Mouth" advertising, when you meet and exceed customer expectation. Meeting and exceeding customer expectation is like the daily news and is broadcasted throughout the community. Look for the moment of truth to improve your business with "word of mouth" advertising.

Your customers can become a word of mouth provider and share their experiences with their family and friends. Studies show that when a consumer sees a movie or has an experience that .... READ MORE

1/7/2005 Eighty percent of companies believe they deliver a superior customer experience, but only 8 percent of their customers agree, says Bain & Company. Here's how to repair the disconnect. From Harvard Management Update.

Call it the dominance trap: The larger a company's market share, the greater the risk it will take it's customers for granted. As the money flows in, management begins confusing customer profitability withcustomer loyalty, never realizing that the most lucrative buyers may also be the angriest and most alienated. Worse, traditional market research may lead the firm to view customers as statistics. Managers can become so focused on the data that they stop hearing the real voices of their customers.
....READ MORE