Kick-Ass Business & Marketing Secrets: How to Blitz Your Competition

Chapter 11

Positively Outrageous Service Is Great Business

There is only one boss in every business: the customer. They can fire everyone in the company, from the chairman down, simply by spending their money somewhere else. Remember, your employer does not pay your wages; your customers do!

The customer does not care about you. They care about them. Tell them something interesting and treat them the way they expect to be treated, or they will go away.

Back in 1993, founder of clothing manufacturer Espirit, John Bell, said, “Today, service is not an issue; without great service you are out of business.” This statement, although relevant then, is even more relevant today. There is an increasing emphasis on providing good service, mainly because today's customers will accept nothing less. But giving good service is like giving value. You will never develop heart share and the resulting critical brand equity and customer loyalty by giving people merely what they deserve. Your customer care must extend over and above their expectations.

Make no mistake: Their expectations are higher than ever. Despite the apparent emphasis on customer service over the past 10 years, the Harvard Business Review shows that customer satisfaction rates in the United States are at an all-time low, whereas complaints and boycotts are rapidly rising. Why? Because customer expectations have doubled in the last two years and customers are harder to satisfy. Research suggests that more than 60 percent of ...