Serve-us With a Smile?

I feel like time and time again we are taught that when it comes to sales, customer service is key. Employees are taught to abide by "service with a smile" and have it drilled into their minds that "the customer is always right". Now let's be honest, we all know that the customer is not always right. If we accept this as correct, then how valuable is customer service, really? If customer service is based on being fake and accepting lies as truth, then is there merit to it?...

YES.

I find that customer service is affecting my purchases and brand loyalties more and more on a daily basis. Last week an order that I had placed from Walmart.com. was delivered. I was glad because it came so quickly, and I was very impressed. But when I opened the box I found that the order was only half-complete (even though it was reported as having been delivered in-whole). I was not overly pleased anymore. All the credibility they had gained with fast shipping they instantly lost with the incomplete order. So I sent an e-mail to their customer service account, and instantly received an automated response which did not at all address my issue. But in the automated response they gave a phone number. By this point, I must say I was a little peeved. I didn't want to have to waste my time trying to resolve their errors, after waiting on hold for about 15 minutes, I did not have high hopes for how the phone conversation was going to go. But much to my surprise, as soon as the representative picked up the phone and listened to my explanation about the issue, she began apologizing repeatedly for my inconvenience. Without questioning my claim or accusing me of being incorrect she simply stated that she would immediately file that the missing portion be sent. She again apologized and wished me well. I hung up the phone and thought 'wow, that was incredible, I wasn't even questioned...'

But then I got to wondering, what about the less honest individuals? What about the people who might choose to say their orders were incomplete, when in fact they were quite complete? Well, the fact is, if they were to give a customer a hard time who was in fact correct, they risk permanently losing that customer's loyalty. In a recent study of cell phone users, 49% said that they leave a provider based on a poor customer service experience (Tsai). The same could be expected for stores. Why would I ever continue buying from Walmart if I can get the same products at the same price from Amazon, or Target? Truth is, I wouldn't. Maybe in a world where brands lose the ability to compete on price or differentiation, customer service is the competitive advantage that keeps a company at the top.