Internal Customer Service: Why It Matters (and How to Apply It)

In the marketing world, a brand is so much more than a mere logo or symbol. It is the intangible sum of a product's attributes: its name, packaging price, history, reputation, and customer experience. It represents every touchpoint in a company or organization. Every individual that encounters a customer or client can make (or break) the brand.

Quality customer service means going beyond what's expected, adding value to the customer experience. When you under-promise and over-deliver, your customers will come back, rave about you, tell others, and be your best friend—as long as this behavior and attitude is consistent.

Armand Feigenbaum, one of the original quality gurus, who is famous for his 1961 book Total Quality Control: Engineering and Management, provides this definition:

Quality is a customer determination based upon a customer's actual experience with a product or service, measured against his or her requirements—stated or unstated, conscious or merely sensed, technically operational or entirely subjective—and always representing a moving target in a competitive market.

Why provide quality customer service?

When you provide quality customer service, you help connect the dots for your company' or organization's brand. It's part of your brand promise, stated or not. Meeting or exceeding your customers' expectations gives your company credibility and helps build its reputation in your market.

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Elaine Fogel is president and CMO of Solutions Marketing & Consulting LLC (www.solutionsmc.net), senior contributor to MarketingProfs.com, and blogger at MarketingProfs Daily Fix (www.mpdailyfix.com). Reach her at elaine@solutionsmc.net.