I recently received a “thank you” email from a customer who had just read my book, The Digital Wrap. Here is the money quote:
I just purchased your book last week and I have to tell you my blood is pumping . . . The last year and a half I have been so focused on internal systems that I completely forgot about the customer . . . The customer became a pain in my ass . .. Thank you for publishing the book and getting me refocused on customer service and growth.
Growing is better than grinding. It is so obvious, but after reaching a certain size, so many companies stop focusing on growing and turn their attention to grinding away at internal operations to squeeze the next little bit of profit from the business. Efficiency is important, but grinding is no fun. There must be a balance in the business, and there is a role for technology to play in having the customer and your prospective customers reflect their gratitude back to you with higher revenue per service and new sales.
I can assure you that raising prices for existing happy customers and signing new customers is a faster and more rewarding path to a twenty percent increase in profit than pounding on your internal staff to get more done with less. But you can’t accomplish this increase in revenue if you do not have a superior customer service capability. Superior does not mean that you call more often or that you take more time on the site either. Superior means that customers can see and appreciate what you do for them through your “digital wrap.” They trust your company because of the online experience they receive through the service cycle. Amazon doesn’t call more often. Uber doesn’t have friendlier dispatch personnel. Both give superior customer service via technology, and they reap the rewards through high brand recognition and repeat business.
If you have been grinding away on internal operations and applying technology to squeeze a little extra blood from your staff, maybe you should think again about a more balanced approach to technology and growth. Ask yourself and your company the question, “How can we use technology to be more important to our customers and prospects so that we can raise prices and close more sales?” If you have never asked this question, why not? If you have never considered technology for anything other than internal operations, why not? If you think growing would be more fun than grinding, why are you still grinding?
