destinationCRM.com: 5 Recession-Busting Customer Service Strategies March 9, 2009
Posted by onprocess in Customer Experience Management, Customer Understanding Research, OnProcess.Tags: business strategies in a downturn, Customer Experience, Customer Experience Management, customer service, Customer Service in a downturn, economic downturn
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destinationCRM.com: 5 Recession-Busting Customer Service Strategies
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More on the theme of boosting customer service and the customer experience, especially in this economic downturn. A Forrester Research report is framed in the article.
I found this quote particularly telling:
A major issue Petouhoff finds with many companies is that the c-level executives do not realize just how important customer service is to the bottom line.
Really?!
The article quotes the report further, highlighting five action steps to be taken:
Organizations looking to make the most of what customer service can offer in a poor economy must first lay a foundation before bolting on additional software, according to the report. Petouhoff recommends a five-step process, in which software evaluation is the final leg:
- Reject the old paradigms that treat a contact center as nothing more than a cost center.
- Demand ownership of the customer experience.
- Listen to your customers as you create your strategy.
- Conduct a gap analysis of your customer service offering and then implement best practices to address those gaps.
- Evaluate software with customer experience as the top goal for a business case.
Note that software is last in the list, purposefully. We like items 1 & 4 in particular. Hey — this IS our blog after all — we don’t sell software, we sell solutions and beneficial outcomes.
–sk
I think your advice is spot on. These tips would work in any economy, and truthfully they should be implemented all the time, but they have become especially important recently. Thanks for the refresher course!
[...] is an excerpt from a blog that I just searched regarding customer service in Recession times. Organizations looking to make the most of what customer service can offer in a poor economy must [...]