The art and science of customer service have become increasingly rare in American commerce. Any one of us can recount stories of poor—sometimes outrageously poor—customer service that not only left us frustrated but also engendered resentment toward the company that appeared to care so little about the customers who generate its profits. Let’s review [...]
Where all this began for me: Long before I earned a PhD or began working with wholesale distributors, I learned a lot about the power of connecting with customers growing up in a tiny town in rural North Carolina. My father, a country banker in the hamlet of Sunbury (in Gates County, North Carolina), saw [...]
Does Any of This Sound Like Your Company? You’re feeling margin pressures, You’re suffering under escalating personnel costs, You’re watching your best customers defect to competitors whom you know aren’t as good as your company is, You feel your business model isn’t as relevant to the market as it was 10-20 years ago, or Your [...]
Providing Concierge Customer Service can seem like a daunting, resource-intensive project. Why would you want to implement this sort of system in your business? What are the benefits of Concierge Customer Service that make it such an effective tool for retention and satisfaction? The truth is that most companies are bad at customer service, but [...]
Your most profitable accounts determine the survival of your business. These critical accounts require dedicated resources and responsive service. Even if you pride yourself on customer interactions, your top-tier, A+ service is not for every customer. Instead, concierge customer service is a tool. Used properly, a concierge customer service team improves internal efficiency, customer and [...]
The nature of sales has changed. Face-to-face sales in distribution are not as common as they once were. We’re finding that more and more these days, those kinds of direct transactions are no longer a dominant means of selling a product or service. When there once was a time when a sales team was the [...]
In a recent discussion with Randy MacLean of WayPoint Analytics, we examined the changing realities of messaging and marketing, and how things are changing so quickly. In the distribution industry, the need to communicate with your market hasn't changed, but the avenues of communication and the audience have changed, giving rise to a lot of us [...]
Whether your business survives is primarily determined by your ability to continue to serve your most profitable accounts. As such, these critical accounts require dedicated resources and responsive service in order to strengthen your ability to retain them. Top-tier service is not meant for every customer, even though your company may pride itself on its [...]