John Sviokla
Here is a brief excerpt from an article written by John Sviokla for the Harvard Business blog. To read the complete article, check out other articles and resources, and sign up for a free subscription to Harvard Business Daily Alerts, please visit dailyalert@email.harvardbusiness.org.* * *
Better Customer Service Through Transparency, Tribes, and Talent
I confess that I have a warm spot in my heart for customer service operations. It is probably because I met my wife of 29.5 years when she and I were on the customer service phones at the Polaroid Corporation. As an old phone jockey, it is apparent to me that the world of customer service is transforming. If we look back at history, we can see that the central tendency of consumer businesses is to move more and more function to the end consumer and to provide them more visibility to the availability of the product or service. As the phone grew in this country as a consumer device, clever pundits predicted that in order to meet the emerging demand for phone calls, the entire country would have to become telephone operators, and that is exactly what we are: We dial our own service. Likewise, when Michael J Cullen opened his first King Kullen store in Jamaica, Queens with 6,000 square feet, on August 4, 1930 with the wonderful catch phrase, “Pile it High, Sell it Low,” he ushered in the world of supermarket self-service at low prices. When they can, firms let customers roll their own.
Today, technology is enabling new capabilities and I see three trends which are recreating customer service in a new, more responsive, and economically efficient manner: transparency, tribes, and talent.
Transparency is best exemplified by Federal Express’ efforts over the years. They were among the first companies to “expose” their internal systems so that not only could the customer schedule pick-ups, print labels, and manage his account, but he could also see the same level of detail the firm had about the location of his shipment. Many firms could benefit by letting customers see where their product or service truly is. BMW allows people who have configured and ordered a Mini Cooper to check the status of the order, and see it location on the high seas as it is shipped across the Atlantic. So what? Well, just think about how the dynamic with your cable company would change if you could actually see if the service truck was on its way to your house. It certainly would change the attitude between the customer and the company. Heck, even the government enables you to track tagged polar bears!
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So my questions for you are:
• Are you transparent?
• Do you lead your tribe?
• Have you unlocked the talent latent in your customer base?
What will you lose except the illusion that you are in control of your customers?
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John Sviokla is vice chairman of Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, Inc. He is a former professor at Harvard Business School in Marketing, MIS, and Decision Sciences.
To read the complete article, check out other articles and resources, and sign up for a free subscription to Harvard Business Daily Alerts, please visit dailyalert@email.harvardbusiness.org.
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