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Market Share & Customer Service

I had a phenominal customer service experience this week with Intuit / QuickBooks and just had to relay it because it has implications for any business. For a client project we had purchased various pieces of the QuickBooks software after consulting with Intuit. When we got down to the implementation we found that two of the licenses needed upgrading. It was a $500 problem on a much bigger project and because we had coordinated the software and hardware requirements I was prepared to make this problem go away for our client even though we were only marginally responsible for this error.

When I called Intuit's customer service and told them the story they quickly understood and they also believed they were marginally responsible and without prompting they upgraded the licenses for us. It was simply handled. I've always believed that if I am responsible in any way I will make it right by the customer because the goodwill generated will outweigh any short-term costs.

It is obvious that Intuit's management feels the same way. There is definately a connection between customer service and market share - Intuit proves it and is the #1 provider of small-business accounting software.

You can contrast this with the customer service at AT&T or Cingular - all the language used is the same "Thank you", "Appreciate your business", etc. but for the simplest of problems you need to escalate through 2-3 levels to get a $20 problem taken care of. It definately sends the wrong message to the customer but unfortunately the cost of entry is very high for certain markets so companies can get by providing poor customer service.

Most likely you don't operate a virtual monopoly so customer service is VERY important to your business. EVERYONE in your company should be trained and have the authority to provide great customer service. Along with the right pricing and quality you will gain market share by providing the best customer service in your industry.

Posted by David Brown on December 22, 2005 09:20 AM|Permalink

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