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Article: Managing the balance between human contact and speed. (Customer Service).
- Article from:
- Doors and Hardware
- Article date:
- July 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Door and Hardware Institute. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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CUSTOMER SERVICE HAS EXPERIENCED A remarkable transformation in the last several decades. Until the late 1970s, written correspondence between manufacturers and customers was still commonplace. Entering the 1980s, letters were starting to be replaced by phone calls. Then toll-free phone calls. And sometimes faxes. Now the Internet has ushered in a new generation of customer service tools.
Regardless of the medium, customers want one thing: an answer. They want it quickly, completely and painlessly. How rapidly, thoroughly and courteously they receive that answer can often dictate whether they will still be customers tomorrow--regardless of price or product ...