Here’s what the Customer Service industry is missing: a service catalogue.
A what? It’s like a product catalogue, only for customer service.
Your service in fact. The one you provide to your customers, courtesy of your customer service operation. It’s strange but true that service professionals never think of telling their customers what they ‘sell.’ For a product marketer, this would be the equivalent of forgetting to get dressed before going in to work!
Let me scene set a little more while you figure out if I’m nuts or onto something we might have all missed.
Why Product Marketing Is Smarter Than Service Marketing (for now)
The ‘no service catalogue’ is a long standing soapbox topic for me. I was reminded about it again when I had the pleasure of being a guest presenter at one of the world’s top high fashion brands.
It was great. I was in a beautifully decorated environment, surrounded by beautiful people who sell beautiful things. Even my presentation on the wonderfully expensive LCD screen looked its Sunday best. I was in heaven.
I’m sure I won’t be rocking your boat by telling you that selling at a premium price needs an equivalent product.
It has to look the business. And that comes down to exquisite design and execution. I don’t know what their ‘little blue book’ contains for those entrusted with materials sourcing, manufacture and packaging. But it must be a work of immense detail and clarity, given the conscious branding effort put in everywhere else. Even the refrigerators were ‘on message!’
This is something I admire about people who make things. They have the good fortune to immediately see if their product quality is rubbish. Whereas we in the customer service industry can ignore the fact that the IVR has ‘bits’ missing, or that a customer journey has been ‘sown’ into a dead end.
You must have watched a shopper carefully examine the quality of a line of stitching before buying a garment. That’s why the same shopper gets frustrated at sloppy service delivery. The comparison in her mind is all too obvious.
So my point is this: why do we in the customer service industry still feel it is OK to duck out of being clear with customers what we deliver?
As a sign of our growing maturity, we need to make it clear what the customer can expect and produce our equivalent of product labelling. Let’s call it your service menu.
This is what it should ideally cover.
Launch Your Own Service Catalogue (you might be first)
Figuring out answers to this type of checklist becomes the basis of your service catalogue which is then promoted to customers in the same way that product catalogues already are.
Having issued this challenge many times before, I can anticipate the way you have been shaking your head and thinking about all the reasons why this is a bad idea. So let me leave you with two further thoughts.
Imagine yourself as a customer being offered this. Would it have a positive or negative impact? Secondly, what would such a challenge do to catalyse everyone in Customer Service and raise their game to the point that they could offer a defined, guaranteed service with confidence?
It’s worth a chat at the next team meeting at least!
PS. The groundwork for producing effective customer service options is laid out in this associated post “Thinking About Multi-Channel“.
Hi Martin,
It’s always a surprise to me that more companies don’t do this given that better understanding and the setting of expectations are some of the basic building blocks of relationships. And. isn’t that what service is in the business of?
Finally, if you did this does it not imply that you are preparing for and expect the customer to come back. It’s funny how when you assume hat something will happen and actually act like it will happen that oftentimes it does happen.
So, if companies are not doing this does it imply that service makes no thought to loyalty?
Adrian
Possibly the most stupid idea I have read in months Martin.
First we would have to be clear what we plan to do
Then we would have to check we were doing it
What are you thinking?
James
James,
I blame it on the mushroom rissotto and the subsequent appearance of a white rabbit. Made sense while discussing the matter en route with the caterpillar!
Martin
Adrian,
Yes its pretty poor that such an obvious point is still missed. Since analytics is still in minority use, I guess most brands are going find out the hard way via social channels just how far they miss out on delivering an appropriate customer experience.
Martin
Great material here: may be too much for Companies to chew at once: I always suggest they do 2 things (that will enable them to get this right over time)
1. Engage and gather feedback proactively
2. Use this to continually ‘Go the Extra Inch’
Hope this helps! Guy
Guy,
You are probably right. But I now lack the patience for incremental inches. I like to deliver a ‘four barrel’ vision so there is no ambiguity. My view is that one of the reasons why point solutions/silos exist is that no-one imagines what it will all look like joined up.
Martin
Martin,
A first class post. I love the worked examples. It was similar thinking that led me to leave my job (as department head, responsible for services P&L) and set up a company to produce some software to help people not only set out their service credentials, but also (more importantly) deliver on them and publicise the results. The gap I saw was that lots of people claim service excellence, they intuitively feel that it’s important to do it, but there are few tools available to help them on that quest, particularly for SMEs.
In contrast, there are lots of sales and marketing tools available. Ironically, great service is much better for generating new business than sales and marketing because purchasers are more heavily influenced by reputation, reviews and word-of-mouth…yet sales and marketing are ineffective in delivering those things.
Guy,
I would agree about the need to get real about service excellence through using effective tools. Just had a quick look at CustomerSure. Looks great and wish you all the best with it. Martin