By : Jacky Mussry
(Chief Knowledge Officer, MarkPlus, Inc.)


Marketeers February 2010

As frequently stated by MarkPlus, Inc., the level of competition in various industries at this moment are becoming increasingly tight, to the point where customer service has also become increasingly important. Nevertheless, it needs to be reminded that customer service alone is not sufficient anymore.

There is a requirement for a new service, branded service. As we enter the New Wave era, there has been a significant shift, where a company's service is no longer enough and has to lean towards care. Therefore, it can be said that it is the end of customer service and the beginning of the customer care era. The question is, is customer care enough? Apparently not, because customer care also has to be colored with a strong character that is based on the company's DNA, in which it can be used as a differentiator element, the most fundamental element of competitive advantage.

This phenomenon happened so fast, and inline with the rapid changes, where a chaotic condition is a new normality, as stated by Philip Kotler during his visit to Indonesia last year. However, before discussing it any further, we should first briefly describe the terms customer service, branded service, and care with character. Customer service is previously only needed when a customer is experiencing a problem.

Therefore, customer service tends to be characterized as reactive. As the competition increases, customer services have become increasingly important, but on the other hand, a standard customer service is not enough anymore. There is a need of a service that can differentiate one company with the other competitors. This can all be accommodated in a branded service, in which the service has its own uniqueness that is based on the PDB Triangle (Product, Differentiation and Brand). Based on that, it can then be further developed into a service blueprint that consists of a number of important elements, how physical evidence should be viewed by customers, detailed description of expected customer actions when interacting, what needs to be prepared ‘backstage' by the frontliners before they interact with customers, what support processes are needed in order to aid frontliners in carrying out their tasks properly.

After the service blueprint is developed, the next big challenge is to synchronize or coordinate aspects of human resources, operations and communications (both internally and externally). Everything stated above are valid until now. As previously stated, customer service has shifted to customer care. The concept of developing a service blueprint is still used, starting from the development of a service concept. Since it is already the era of customer care, what needs to be developed is customer care concept, which would be later be translated into a customer care blueprint. However, there is still one other element that is need to strengthen the whole concept, the character of all of the employees in the company that is in accordance with the involved company's DNA.

The nature of customer care is proactive. A company should be able to anticipate what their customers are thinking as well as "reading" their anxiety and desire before the customer actually expresses them (when possible). A simple example, we feel quite thirsty after waking up from our sleep during a trip in an airplane. Before we actually ask the cabin crew, they should already have the initiative to approach us with a glass of water to freshen up our dry throats. However, without carrying a strong character from the company, customer care will become "lifeless" or "dry". We need to develop a form of care with character.

A full version of the interview in Bahasa Indonesia can be read in our Nov-Dec 2009 edition of Marketeers.