Branded customer service: the new c - Ompetitive edge

Informationen zum Autor Janelle Barlow is Chief Executive of Branded Customer Service–the Americas and President of TMI US. Her previous books include the bestselling A Complaint Is a Gift and Emotional Value. Paul Stewart is the Chief Executive of Branded Customer Service–Asia Pacific and Director of TMI New Zealand. He was previously chief economist for the ANZ Banking Group (NZ) Ltd. Klappentext Branding is an integral part of modern business strategy. But while there are dozens of books on branding products and marketing campaigns, nobody has applied the logic and techniques of branding to customer service--until now. Branded Customer Service is a practical guide to moving service delivery to a new level so that brand reinforcement occurs every time customers interact with organizational representatives. Janelle Barlow and Paul Stewart show how to infuse an entire organization with brand values and create a recognizable style of service that reflects brand promises and brand images. Leseprobe On-Brand or Off-Brand What is a brand? At its most basic level, a brand is a unique identity. It is a shorthand way the public thinks about what you do, produce, serve, and sell. When well conceived and developed, a brand is a vibrant picture held in consumers’ minds. Well-executed brands are worth millions, even billions of dollars, in sales and shareholder value. Brands stand out like beacons of light in a sea awash with high-quality products and services offered to meet consumer-expression needs, as consumers choose brands in great part to tell the world and themselves who they are. Branding is a central element of marketing strategies. The consumer in effect believes, “The only way I can be who I am is to have specific products or services.” A powerful brand, therefore, creates a must-have quasi monopoly for itself. So, what is branded customer service? It’s an additional and huge way to further distinguish a brand’s unique identity. Branded customer service goes way beyond generic service. It even is more than excellent service. It is a strategic and organized way to deliver on-brand customer experiences that magnify brand promises. It adds value to target markets by driving home the 1 essence of a brand. In so doing, branded customer service can become so valuable that it takes on the power of a brand unto itself. When service experiences are aligned with brand promises, a multiplying effect occurs that is significantly more engaging than just a well-recognized brand name. When service experiences do not match brand promises, as so frequently happens, trust is undermined and brand erosion occurs. This gap is costly and can ruin or seriously diminish a good advertising campaign. For all these reasons, branded customer service is the new competitive edge in the service economy. Some time ago, an Australian bank made a promise that customers would be given $5 if they had to wait longer than five minutes for a teller. The promise (with its well-crafted subtext message that the bank valued its customers’ time so much that they would never waste more than five minutes of it) attracted customers. Unfortunately, the bank failed in its delivery. Employees got so hassled trying to deliver on the unrealistic, maximum-five-minute promise that the bank had to retract its promise. The result? Immediate, widely publicized, and significant brand erosion. On the other hand, another bank has successfully integrated its brand advertising into its service culture. The bank recently measured the impact of its advertising, comparing reactions of customers with noncustomers. The research concluded that customers who had both seen the bank’s advertisements and experienced its service had the strongest positive associations with the brand’s attributes, which are listed on the following chart.2 Customers who had merel...

Table des matières

Acknowledgments
Introduction: On-Brand or Off-Brand

Part I: Linking the Big World of Branding to Customer Service
1 The Branding Imperative
2 Generic Customer Service Isn t Enough Anymore
3 Road Map to Branded Customer Service

Part II: Embedding On-Brand Service into Your Organizational DNA
4 Defining Your Brand DNA
5 Brand Power Tools: Likability, Reinforcement, and Consistency
6 Culture Change: The Bedrock of Brand Development
7 Communicating to Ensure Brand Resonance
8 Internal Word of Mouth: The Role of Brand Champions
9 Human Resources: The Window to the Corporate Soul

Part III: The Branded Customer Service Toolbox
10 Great Brands Are Supported from Within: The Role of Management
11 Selling in a Branded World: Linking Your Brand Proposition to Your Sales Messages
12 The Toolbox of On-Brand Exercises
Final Thoughts
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Authors

Commentaire

Branded Customer Service packs the punches about really great customer service. It gives the reader an insight into how to differentiate through service and how to win. If you are really committed to getting the most out of your brand, read this book!
Mark Bergdahl, CEO, Customer Intimacy, Limited

Any business that applies the on-brand ideas in this easy-to-read book will create a significant competitive advantage by converting its customers into apostles who will preach the gospel in the marketplace for that company.
Dr. Tony Alessandra, author of Collaborative Selling and The Platinum Rule

Barlow and Stewart have told the stories of some great customer service companies that have set the benchmark for their respective industries in building and delivering great brand promises. They get to the very essence of these customer service branding strategies by telling the how and why. A great read for anyone who is interested in customer service differentiation.
Ralph Norris, Managing Director and CEO, Air New Zealand, Limited

Barlow and Stewart reveal the secret of consumer loyalty. Consumers and companies alike should rejoice at the insights they offer.
Rod Oram, business commentator

I ve always found effective branding to be as difficult to articulate as it is to do. For me it is a complex mix of creating an external perception that is also an internal reflection of who you are and what you stand for. Branded Customer Service is a great practical read for others who similarly wrestle with such concepts. It passed the get-real test for me and is certainly on-brand for what I want from TMI.
Barbara Chapman, Head of Retail Banking and Marketing, ASB Bank

The future of branding is here now, and it requires a complete reassessment of your communication. This book opens your eyes to how simple it can be to assess and how powerful it can be to fix your branded customer service. This new level of brand building can become a long-term competitive advantage for your company."
Jim Wagner, Senior Vice President, Mattel

All too often we assume that branding is purely through the eyes of the customer. This book creates a refreshing perspective that our staff are the key to a successful brand. A straightforward and powerful interpretation using some great examples.
Nigel Roberts, Managing Director, Langham Hotel, Hong Kong

Extraordinary review and junction of branding approaches in the fields of products and services. This work can be done only by coop- eration between practitioners on both sides of the table branding products and branding services. Barlow and Stewart show how to brand services to match your brand promises.
Uros Mocnik, General Manager, Business Knowledge, Croatia

Branded Customer Service provides a road map to genuinely trans- form the customer experience that is accessible to all people within organizations the concepts, language, and examples make sense whether you are a CEO or someone interacting with the customer moment by moment.
Sonia Stojanovic, Head of Cultural Transformation, ANZ Banking Group

Détails du produit

• Auteurs: Barlow, Janelle Barlow, Paul Stewart
• Edition: Berrett Koehler Publishers
• Langues: Anglais
• Format d'édition: Livre Broché
• Sortie: 10.09.2006
• EAN: 9781576754047
• ISBN: 978-1-57675-404-7
• Pages: 264
• Dimensions: 155 mm x 230 mm x 20 mm
• Thème: UK Professional Business Management / Business
• Catégories: Sciences sociales, droit, économie > Economie; Kundendienst, Kundenbetreuung, Service