The customer (or consumer) service department in many organizations is often one of the biggest overlooked marketing tools.
Who else has direct contact with the end users? Ed Moed, author of Measuring Up, insists that customer service is the cheapest form of marketing.
For the B-B company who deals directly with customers, a customer service representative has the perfect opportunity to strengthen a relationship with someone who works at a company that may be responsible for thousands of dollars, if not millions, of your company’s revenues.
For the consumer products company, often the consumer service department is the only group that talks directly with the end users. Even the market research department is usually sitting behind a one way glass when they view focus groups!
There are lots of examples of how bad customer service can lose a customer, but how can you use your customer service department to strengthen your marketing program?
Photo courtesy JM3 at Flickr via creative commons.
