“Customer service is just a day-in, day-out ongoing, never-ending, unremitting, persevering, compassionate, type of activity. ”
In a recent interview journalist and educator Hanson Hosein asked Jeff Bezos how he keeps Amazon “nimble” even though it’s a massive company. Bezos had this to say:
“If you have a customer-centric culture, that cures a lot of ills. Let’s say you’re the leader in a particular arena, if you’re competitor-focused and you’re already the leader, then where does your energy come from? Whereas, if you’re customer focused, and you’re already the leader, customers are never satisfied. If you’re customer-focused, you’re always waking up wondering, how can we make that customer say, wow? We want to impress our customers — we want them to say, wow. That kind of divine discontent comes from observing customers and noticing that things can always be better.”
(Source: GeekWire)
Competitor-focus can be a kind of disease in a company. When you begin to take direction the majority of your direction from competitors, you lose sight of where your money comes from. Are your competitors coming to you to list their home? No. (Do our competitors buy their signs from us? No.)
You may be saying: “Well, I get ideas from my competitors!” I would say you probably get envy and panic from your competitors, not great ideas. You don’t know what’s really going on behind the scenes. You fall prey to grass-is-always-greener thinking and an abstract fear of being left behind.
Meanwhile, your customers give you the best ideas! Every unhappy customer is giving you the gift of something you can look at making better. Every hour you spend trying to decode your competitors’ strategy is an hour you could have passed wowing a customer. Even a casual examination of where you’re doing “OK” can be an opportunity for transformation.
“Focus on the customer” or “customer service-oriented” is a popular marketing phrase, but what many miss is the real potential to transform their business by embracing it as a philosophy.
