Customer Service: More Important than the Goods?

1. Cody Rudd English 2010 Report Customer Service: More Important than the Goods?

2. Abstract Customer Service has a huge impact on how well businesses do in the market place. Here in the United States, and at the present time, the market place is a vast system. Millions of people are buying goods and hundreds of thousands of companies are selling those goods (by goods I mean both products and services). Because of that system, quality customer service is a competitive advantage for a business (Long, et al. 247). Many times the customer service has a larger impact than the goods being sold.

3. What is Customer Service? Customer Service is self explanatory, it is the service to customers. It is a practice companies use to help sell their products, which helps make the business successful. Most companies will have a strict customer service system, which means taking care of customers as best as possible. Many companies enforce those ruleswhile others do not; both have a lasting impact on the customers.

4. Customer Service is its own unique system within the original business. The market place is the system in which people buy and sell goods. It backs up the goods and the company, and makes the goods credible and wanted. Customer service the item, is attached to the good that the customer is purchasing, it is part of the price. This means that sometimes it can be more impactful than the goods being sold.

5. Where does it Exist? Customer Service exists whenever there is a good being sold. Anytime this happens customers are created, which in turn creates a customer service system. In the current, American society, customer service is applicable in our daily lives. Almost every store or business, has some identifiable customer service system, which is solely intended just to help customers. Long, Khalafinezhad, Ismail, and Rasid call this system of customer service, the CRM.

6. What is the CRM? As I mentioned before businesses have a huge competitive advantage when incorporating quality customer service (Long, et. al 247). This competitive advantage is achieved by having a Customer Relation Management (CRM) within a business. The CRM is responsible for managing the company’s interactions with the customers (Long, et. al 247). This is the strategy for employing customer service that will make the customers both happy and loyal, which in-turn generates business for the company.

7. The goal of any business is to make the highest profit they can. The objectives of the CRM are to enhance profitability and income which is directly related to customer satisfaction (Long, et. al 247). When customers are happy with both the goods and the service, a business receives a two for one. By having happy customers, they remain loyal and continuing purchasing goods and the company gets “free advertising” (Long, et. al 247).

8. In the video Customer Service, it is known that one out of four customers will change businesses when treated poorly (4:16). This is a huge statistic regarding the impact of the quality of the customer service. When the CRM is working correctly to maintain at a quality level, customers are happy. The idea of giving the best possible service quality is directly related to a business’ outcome (Johnn, Siew, Thean).

9. Johnn, Siew, and Thean suggest that past literature has suggested that Service Quality (SQ) has an effect on Customer Satisfaction (CS), which in turn affects Behavioral Intentions (BI) (1). This reinforces the idea that the quality of service, which the CRM controls, directly impacts customers who will buy goods somewhere else if they are not treated like they expect to be.

10. A Sales Shift? The idea of running a business is based off of selling products or providing some kind of service. That is the number one priority for businesses right? In fact its not just selling goods anymore, its selling the service that is provided to customer who buys those goods. “The significant shift from being product-oriented to service-centered consumption pattern is the result of pressure from the increased number of demanding customers” (Johnn, Siew, Thean 1). While this is an economical point, it also plays into the idea that now companies need to sell quality service along with their original goods, to maintain a successful operation.

11. This concept, and now new practice, is a result from the vast amount of businesses that are in the market place. All these businesses want customers to buy from them. “It is important for the organizations to offer them superior service quality in order to enjoy significant strategic benefits such as better productivity, rising market share, and sustained customer loyalty” (Johnn, Siew, Thean 1).

12. When businesses provide a high level of service to their customers, they gain that competitive advantage in the market place. As mentioned earlier, when customers are “satisfied,” to say the least, they remain loyal and the company can continue to sell to them and become or remain successful.

13. What exactly is Quality Customer Service? Quality service comes from the employees who directly handle the customer’s business. But it also comes from the company’s ability to make it easy on the customer to find what they need. The video, Customer Service explains that good customer service begins at the moment of delivery, dealing with issues properly, and effectively communicating (3:01).

14. Those components mentioned from the video, relate back to the employees handling the customers business. When the employees treat the customer effectively and efficiently, the customer is “satisfied,” to say the least. Which ties back into the factor of creating loyal customers to achieve a higher profit. But customer service usually begins and ends with employees, their behavior toward a customer is greatly observed by that customer.

15. Why is it Important? Most people shop, at least in the United States they do, and have experienced both good and bad customer service. What do you do when treated well? Many people will continue shopping at that place and buying those goods. But what do you do when treated poorly? Many people will either complain to management and the problem can be resolved from there. Or they will simply never shop their again. The latter happens more often than one might think. Remember that one in four people will change businesses when treated poorly (“Customer Service…” 4:16). These two questions are important when regarding customer service. Both are equally impactful, but the consequences vary greatly for a business.

16. The impact of customer service plays a great factor on the business’ outcome in the market. When a business succeeds and gains a higher level in the field, it is the result of selling goods and making a profit. But it is not just the goods people are buying these days. When a person buys something, they expect a certain level of help while still owning/using that product. This relates back to the concept that customers are purchasing a “customer” service along with the good. Customers expect to be treated with respect and kindness while shopping/purchasing the goods at a business.

17. For example, purchasing a product from Apple, while the product is great itself, customers expect more. Apple has created a system for that; based on personal experience I know that they have a phone system solely to help customers. They also have an in-store system that will help with whatever questions or issues a customer may have. It is that way with most companies, it is the way people are treated that changes. Apple is a very large company, mainly due to its products; but they have to have some sort of customer service based system because of their large size.

18. What makes it Effective? Most, if not all, businesses that sell something have a system based on just helping customers. It is not just helping the customer that is important, it is also the way it is done that matters most. As I mentioned in the Apple example, I had a good experience with their customer service system. They were both very friendly and helpful. I am one of those “satisfied” customers and I will continue to be loyal. Companies want and need loyalty to advance or remain a profitable company. Without giving customers a quality experience, that cannot be achieved.

19. The effectiveness of customer service comes in two parts: both helping the customer and giving the customer an enjoyable experience. As mentioned earlier, the video “Customer Service” mentions that one out of four customers change businesses because of poor treatment (4:16). While a company may sell a quality product or service, sometimes the service is more impactful.

20. In some cases the service can be more important than the original product or service purchased. Customers have a great deal of business they can go to, to purchase of aproduct they want or need. A business can gain an advantage by selling quality customer service, along with their original goods.

21. Opportunity for Change In gaining an advantage over other businesses, selling a quality service system is one step to do that. According to Long, Khalafinezhad, Ismail, and Rasid “The behavior of the employees and relationship development contribute most to customer satisfaction.” Having employees who can effectively help a customer is necessary for the selling, in a metaphorical sense, of the customer service aspect of a business.

22. The behavior of the employees contribute most to customer satisfaction according to Long, Khalafinezhad, Ismail, and Rasid. They also found that alone, employee behavior has more than a 50% impact on customer satisfaction. Having employees who can effectively help a customer is necessary for the “selling” of the customer service aspect of a business. The relationship development is based on the CRM mentioned earlier.

23. Conclusion Customers purchase products or services that they want or need, but they also purchase customer service. Whether or not the customer service is a quality level, can determine a business’ outcome. Companies employ an integrated system, service to the customers within the selling of goods, to maintain customer service. They also need loyal employees to carry out those plans to give a high quality of service to the customers.

24. While receiving customer service is one thing; how it is received is another. It is not just receiving help a customer needs, it is receiving help in a way that is effective towards to the customer. It is making the experience one that is memorable and lasting on a customer. Hopefully that experience is a good, which will make customers loyal. Sometimes the customer service does have a larger impact on a customer than the goods themselves.

25. Works Cited “Customer Service: An Essential Product for Customer Retention.” Superior Customer Service. Salt Lake Community College Online Database: Films on Demand. 1991. Video. 30 Sept. 2013. Johnn, Yee Choy, Tong Lam Siew, Chye Lee Thean. “Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction, and Behavioral Intentions: Review of Literature and Modeling Conceptual Development.” International Journal of Academic Research. 4. 3. (2012). Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Sept. 2013. Long, Choi Sang, Raha Khalafinezhad, Wan Khairuzzaman Wan Ismail, and Siti Zeleha Adb Rasid. “Impact of CRM Factors on Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty.” Asian Social Science. 9. 10. Canadian Center of Science and Education. 1 August 2013. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.