Keywords
Citation
Janis Dietz (2013), "High-tech, High-touch Customer Service: Inspire Timeless Loyalty in the Demanding New World of Social Commerce", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 90-91. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363761311290885
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
During the past 15 years, I have reviewed numerous books about branding and customer service for this publication, but I am no less excited about this book. Does it tell you anything new? No, but it should be read by everyone who has a customer (most of us) because examples like the demise of Best Buy, Circuit City and other assorted retailers prove that the lessons in this book need to be learned again – and again! I can relate, many times painfully, to Solomon ' s examples. If that is the case, it means either that not everyone who needs to has read this book or that they FAILED to internalize the important lessons.
High-tech, High-touch has a way of making you say, over and over again: “How could they be so foolish – the answer is so simple!”. The premise of good customer service is simple, but the added ways that customers and companies communicate with each other have been compounded by increased customer empowerment, an ever-growing number of channels in which to flex that empowerment, and less than optimal hiring programs.
There are three parts and 13 chapters, from Timeliness and Timelessness (Part One) to High-Tech, High-Touch Anticipatory Service (Part Two) and The Rise of Self-Service and Social Media – and Other Seismic Shifts (Part Three). Quotes range from “social media blundering […] is one of the potential pitfalls of engaging with customers today” (p. 2) to “if you want to satisfy customers, the technology can ' t be left to the technologists” (p. 62) and ending with “never discount the power of the simple telephone” (p. 154). Simple, “duh” moments abound in this book. Keep a highlighter handy.
Part One: Timeliness and timelessness
Chapter 1: Today's changed customer: making lovemaking difficult
The pace of customer change requires close study, so Solomon ' s Trend #1 is: “Customers expect anticipatory technological behavior and aggregated information – instantly” (p. 12). This covers everything from designing a car that holds chosen radio stations after a battery failure to a hotel remembering how soft a guest likes the pillow. Customers are also shifting to “buying brands from companies whose values are similar to my own” (customer trend #2, p. 15). Add to this the “greening of the customer” (customer trend #5, p. 17) and it means:
Customers are changing,
Their values are changing,
They expect those they buy from to know them as individuals, and
An increasingly tech-savvy populace embraces self-service.
Chapter 2: The customer remains the same
Solomon begins by relating how things are changing and then says that not everything has changed! The four components that reliably create customer satisfaction include:
A perfect product or service.
Delivered in a caring, friendly manner.
On time (as defined by the customer).
The backing of an effective problem-resolution process.
Chapter 3: Timeless customer service done right – and wrong
This chapter discusses 12 points required for success – from welcoming customers via several channels to taking into consideration their time constraints and constantly trying to improve their experience. Reading this chapter will help companies refrain from backsliding on their standards.
Part Two: high-tech, high-touch anticipatory customer service
Chapter 4: A Google of apples a day
“Your customer service applications and procedures should act as if they ' re standing by the side of the specific customer you ' re working with, anticipating what that customer wants or needs next “(p. 60). Using the service at Apple stores and others, the reader is taught that a company has to internalize anticipating customer needs on a continuous basis.
Chapter 5: Anticipatory customer service: your culture
In this era of copying innovations in the flick of an eye, and “just about any business advantage […] can be copied by a competitor […]. The culture of your company is the exception to this rule. Strong company cultures are overwhelmingly knockoff resistant” (p. 63).
Chapter 6: Anticipatory customer service: your people
This is one of my favorite chapters because of this often ignored fact: “Attitude, rather than technical skill, is what ' s most important in a prospective employee” (p. 86). Hiring and developing the team could not be a stronger requirement for winning companies.
Chapter 7: Sangria, sippy cups, and Jesse Ventura: autonomy versus standards
The title is taken from the security measures and lack of autonomy given many front-line personnel, such as at airport security screenings. “Your employees need to understand their purpose in your organization and be given the power and encouragement to act autonomously to support that purpose, or you ' ll lose customer from your lack of flexibility” (p. 107). Standards are important, but conveying why standards exist and allowing flexibility to accomplish them seems to support happier employees and customers.
Part three: the rise of self-service and social media – and other seismic shifts
Chapter 8: The rise of self-service
Though the last chapter discussed employee autonomy, this one discusses autonomy in the form of self-service options. I consider it a critical chapter because it highlights the important trend of “some customers wanting to do business with you wholly in a self-service environment” (p. 111). As most retailers are finding out the hard way, customers should be free to do business with them without the pointedly snarky “You should go to the website” (p. 115). Read this one with a highlighter.
Chapter 9: Technological change and disabled customers: a true opportunity, if you avoid the missteps
“For people with disabilities, technology is a double-edged sword […] When technology is advanced without consideration for how people with disabilities are using the current iteration” (p. 122). As a disabled employee myself, I can certainly relate. As will not surprise the reader, “people with disabilities constitute a large and growing segment of the populace. And the public we serve includes an even larger proportion of people who are related to, responsible for, or simply fond of people with disabilities” (p. 126). Solomon gives examples of companies like Wynn resorts, which has motion activated doors because they know the ones you push are notoriously undependable. That is anticipating the customer ' s needs!
Chapter 10: Shoulder your customer's burden (and make sure you're not adding to it!)
“In my experience, limiting time per call is one of the top causes of repeat calls” (p. 130). Call limit quotas lose more customers than they keep. This follows on the theme of the book that using common sense in planning customer interaction policies adds to customer equity.
Chapter 11: Anti-social media
“The second secret (you will have to read the book to get the first) is to reduce the need for it by making sure your customers know, as directly as possible, how to reach you” (p. 145). With Twitter and Facebook speeding up the time it takes customers to broadcast experiences, “make sure that the first impulse of customers is to reach you – day or night” (p. 145).
Chapter 12: Social service: principles for social media customer service
“Small Error + Slow Response Time=Colossal PR Disaster” (p. 150). “The magnitude of the social media uproar increases disproportionately with the length of your response time” (p. 150). Solomon uses several examples of lawsuits growing out of the failure to use “the power of the simple telephone” (p. 154). His eight principles speak to the heart of personalizing your relationship with your customer.
Chapter 13: Listening: your ears are your most important technology
“There is only one perspective that matters” (p. 160). Realizing that the distance between management and front-line employees can be far,” You need to work with your employees, and for your employees, because they ' re who will create the ultimate customer perspective, whether bad, indifferent, or transcendent” (p. 162). Listening is part of the culture of “opening yourself up to hearing” (p. 169).
You now know why I liked this book – nothing really new, but some real gems that bear repeating (again and again) for everyone in a service role – these days that is most of us. Solomon uses good examples that are real and can be extended to other industries. Understanding that “Just as your brand is only as good as your weakest employee, customer service is only as good as your weakest channel of communication” (p. 157). Buy some copies to give away.