Does customer service really matter?

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Looking at these numbers, it’s easy to see that customer service does matter.

- 96 percent of dissatisfied customers do not complain directly

- 90 percent will not return

- One unhappy customer will tell nine others

- 13 percent will tell at least 20 other people

- 10 percent tell 20 to 30 people about poor service

- 54 to 70 percent return if complaints are resolved

- 95 percent return if the problem is resolved quickly

In many respects customer service can be the most important aspect of your business. A business can have a great product and bad customer service, and that business will eventually fail. It can have an average product with great customer service and be very successful. In many cases, if not most, customer service will make or break a business.

While researching customer service, I found a great Web site providing examples of the best and worst. As I read through several stories, I noticed a common theme; the employees in the examples were all working in entry-level positions and had the most direct contact with customers. Here are two examples:

Worst: Circuit City

“I chose a laptop because the salesman gave it high marks, and there was $150 in rebates, which brought the cost in line with an HP I was looking at. … I did a presentation that afternoon, but the computer kept freezing up, and I was having to reboot during the presentation. I went back to Circuit City and asked to replace it with another computer. They wanted $200 to restock the item even though it had only been three days. … They pointed out that I had only 15 days to return it, and I showed them the receipt only being three days old. They would not do anything about it.”

Best: Circuit City

“I purchased a laptop that included a rebate for the laptop, security software and a printer. Although the paperwork is a little confusing I submitted the receipts and bar codes to the address listed and dutifully waited six weeks. They were great at providing updates on the status of my rebate and when one rebate was rejected because of the wrong rebate code listed on the receipt, they rectified the situation at my word and sent me the rebate check. It’s a shame this company is having financial difficulties — I will miss them.”

Like Circuit City, many of the companies mentioned on the Web site are large concerns that spend a ton of money defining and refining their image, and marketing that image to their targeted base of customers. But, also like Circuit City, employees who have direct contact with the customers will ultimately decide the fate of a company.

I’m sure Circuit City has — scratch that, had — a policy of providing first-class customer service, and I bet that employees were given some level of instruction and training on how to provide quality service. But at some level Circuit City failed to get the message — that customers matter — across to enough of its employees.

All of the resources invested on market research, advertising, product placement, etc. are wasted if the front-line folks are not concerned with providing good customer service. Every person in a company has to be committed to serving customers. This attitude has to be ingrained in every employee at every level.

In 2009, Circuit City filed bankruptcy, liquidated its assets and closed its doors. So, yes, customer service does matter.

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