I just started reading The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell. He explains that The Tipping Point "is the biography of an idea, and the idea is very simple. It is that the best way to understand the emergence of fashion trends, the ebb and flow of crime waves, or, for that matter, the transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of world of mouth, or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread like viruses do."
As I think about all the customer service blogs and articles that I've been coming across, plus the myriad of news articles saying that companies are revamping their customer service strategies - I wonder if customer service is going through its own "tipping point".
Is it possible to create an epidemic of great customer service?
Companies that have created their own tipping points in the area of customer service include Zappos, Nordstrom, Southwest, and Marriott. Their philosphies about business and how they've treated customers has created an epidemic of positive energy that has set the bar for other companies to try and emulate.
Don't you want to join the evolution?
Maria,
You are so right. Garrett Richter, president and CEO of First National Bank of Florida put it best when he said: "If we roll out the red carpet for billionaires, they won't even notice. If we roll it out for millionaires, they expect it. If we roll out the red carpet for thousandaires, they appreciate it. And if we roll out the red carpet for hundredaires, they tell everybody they know.
If you consistently create a total red-carpet experience for your customers, you will hit your tipping point and create bonafide buzz about your business.
Great post!
Posted by: Donna Cutting | January 22, 2008 9:58 AM | Permalink to Comment