Almost every organization wants their customers to openly advocate their brand. They want them to be gleefully sharing their products and services on social media – telling their friends that they “must buy brand XX because…”. They want them to be writing insightful blog posts and in-depth articles about why brand XX is better than all their competitors. Some even want them scribbling down stories in their journals about how brand XX helped shape their childhood.

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Customer Service is an essential differentiator and a big part of the future of marketing. With the dominance of social platforms, the two-way conversation between brand and customer are the building blocks to long-term customer retention. Brands have fallen on both ends of the customer service spectrum, with some relying wholly on customer service to build their business, and others suffering in embarrassing public displays.

I’ve personally dealt with some great businesses that have failed on the customer service front, and ultimately lost me as a supporter and customer. Here are some examples and how brands can learn from them:

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A couple of months ago, I had a great conversation about “Brand Building” with the extremely well-dressed (that’s irrelevant, but I noticed) and humble Steven Fitzgerald. 17 years ago, Steven and his partner founded Habanero Consulting Group, a provider of enterprise-level employee, customer, and member portals. It is now a multi-million dollar business with an award-winning work culture. The conversation had originally inspired me to write a post, but as I continued to talk to others about the subject, I knew I had to wait and gather all the information I had before putting something together. From these conversations, I’ve taken three tips that have stuck with me the most; I hope they’re as inspiring to you as they were to me.

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