The Limitations of Generic Customer Skills Training


While few managers who purchase customer service programs for their staff think they are buying generic customer service skills training programs, in fact, that is what many do. Most customer service training companies have service programs (delivered on tape, on CD, or in person) that they offer to a wide range of high-end and low-end companies across a variety of industries. They sell the same program to multiple companies based on the idea that the same style of service delivery is going to create loyalty to an infinite range of different brands.

The public has leaped ahead of organizations in this area. Consumers do not hold one idea of service in their minds; the public is not generic when it comes to service. When evaluating customer service, consumers hold a multitude of personal, specific, and unique expectations about services and products relating to specific brands. Customers have different service expectations for banks than they do for retail shops. They also view one retail store differently from another. Sam's Club or Costco is not viewed the same as Nordstrom or Saks Fifth Avenue. With generic service, the experience customers ultimately have inside Costco compared to Saks Fifth Avenue could be the same, but customers walk into the two stores and shop with totally different expectations.

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We have noticed at Costco that the clerks look at products customers purchase as they pass through the checkout lines. The clerks sometimes ask where the customer found the product in the store. With their curiosity, they subtly emphasize how merchandise rapidly changes at Costco. The clerks also comment on the great price of certain products—not the staple items, such as peanut butter, but the unusual higher end items. It reinforces part of the unspoken Costco brand message: "We've got such great values that you need to buy them now. If you don't, the merchandise probably will not be there when you return."

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It is difficult to distinguish your brand position from another organization's brand when offering advertising that looks like everyone else's. In the same way, generic service will not enhance your customer's experience about the uniqueness of your brand. Customer exchanges must illuminate features of the brand promise or brand values, such as in the above Costco example.




Branded Customer Service(c) The New Competitive Edge
Branded Customer Service: The New Competitive Edge
ISBN: 1576752984
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 134

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