What Impact Does Customer Service Have on the Success or Failure of a Business

Having a lot of choices gives the customer considerable freedom and in this context , freedom is also power . Once a customer chooses to patronize one particular product and /or service , one can be sure that profits will start to come in (Kamin , 2002 ,

.4 . They goal now is to retain that customer to ensure continued patronage by being able to meet these needs . Furthermore , customers serve as the best testimonials that would encourage others through word of mouth to patronize the company and this would start a chain reaction as this

endorsement ' is passed forward . Their endorsement or lack of it , can spell the success or failure of a company . Failure to meet those needs would mean turning to the competitor who stands to profit from the failure of the company (Evenson , 2002 ,

.21-22

Successful companies train their CS people on various techniques to achieve that end and one particularly effective technique is building rapport with the customer . Using this technique , the customer is not treated as a customer . The CS person adds a personal touch by owning ' the transaction through commitment such as saying , I 'd be happy to help you ' Furthermore , CS people are even encouraged to exceed the customer 's expectations in what is called the wow factor by giving more than what customers normally expect (Kamin , 2002 br

.12-13 Evenson , 2005 , pp .78-79 . The idea here is to make the customer 's experience a memorable one and the kind that will make them come back for more . Besides training , regular evalutions are conducted whether administered by the company where they assess Key Performance Indicators (KPI ) where customer satisfaction is among the criteria . The rationale for such regular evaluation is to maintain that edge among CS people constantly given the competition they are facing and...