Genuine Caring – Part 1

December 22, 2009 by Yuval Brisker

I spent the afternoon and then dinner with one of my favorite customers. He’s an important vice president at a very large communications and media company, one of the largest of its kind in the world.

Over the years, we’ve spent many hours talking about the service business, which both of us are in, and today we talked about the idea and the practice of service differentiation, one of my favorite topics.

In product and technology, almost everything is a commodity at this point. Everything. You can always find someone who will give it to you cheaper (and sometimes, even, better).

So what can never be commoditized?

Genuine Caring.

What is ‘Genuine Caring’?

It basically means giving customers a feeling that your concern for their satisfaction is something beyond the ’same old, same old’.  It’s not just a post-service survey. It’s making that survey count. It’s not just asking what was good and bad or wrong and right in the service – it’s letting them know how their experience will change the way you’ll do business with them in the future. It means asking them what they think and then giving them a sense that what they said REALLY matters. A tall order when you have millions of customers.

And how do you do this?

Well what did that old Dean Witter ad say?

“One customer at a time.”

To be continued….

Arhaus

June 26, 2009 by Yuval Brisker

Arhaus has a special place in our hearts. John Roddy got it fast, recognized us early, gave us a huge chance, pushed the envelope of what our solution could do. John has always thought outside the box and recognized talent and value for what it is. John has really used TOA’s system more completely than any customer I can think of… and it’s all about customer service.  and has kept innovating and thinking all the way.

John and Arhaus are all about the customer – it is first, second and last on their minds – in fact John says in this article about his use of TOA: “the delivery and scheduling side of the operation are highly ranked among customers. Customer approval hovers at 98 percent, whereas in the past, the rating topped out at 85 percent. We’re white glove service …We fluff pillows, remove trash…and we’re clean shaven. We do it all. We run a tight ship here.”

That’s what every customer focused business should be about.