High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service

chapter 8the rise of self-servicea boon to your customers—but only if you do it right

employees aren’t the only ones with an expanded inclination toward autonomy. Today’s customers also have an increasing desire for—and expectation of—autonomy, in the form of self-service options. This is a very powerful trend among today’s customers, with some customers wanting to do business with you wholly in a self-service environment and even more now growing accustomed to augmenting human service providers with self-service … as I myself did not long ago with my smartphone when shopping at the local music store.

awarding myself the mobile prize

One Saturday morning, I found myself trekking to the guitar store uptown because I needed strings for a “Baby ...