Dealing with companies on a daily basis you learn to love some that you should hate as well as hate some that you should love. Banks SUCK, or rather I hate one so much with a passion, mainly because how their customer service operates as well as some of their “policies”. Does corporate america understand that customers hate you and you are ONLY IN BUSSINESS because YOU FORCE THEM. For example, cell phone providers in America. Picking a cellular provider is not choosing the best one, but the one that sucks the least. The ogolopoly the cellular market has on you SUCKS, I hope this iPhone causes AT&T, Cingular to break apart due to such a large margin in the market. AT&T who still had customers or rather customers who were formally known as AT&T customers before they became Cingular and now at&t. (Not even the Government can break it up!) So back to customer service.
I have found that Fortune 1000 companies need to understand the customer, hence Customer Innovation. Imaging a world where corporations spend less on R & D and more on getting ideas/concepts out of customers minds and into their products. Customer Service is always the first thing a UNHAPPY customer or IRATE customer talks to about a PROBLEM. If you step up to the plate and offer more support and ask customers about your product you would be surprise at how much FREE information you can get from them. There are even companies who started because their competitors are HATED by customers, like Zopa and Banks!
Another interesting concept is fast feedback. Imaging a world where a company gets back to you in a timely fashion (WHERE THE $@%@#@ ARE YOU DOMINOS!) and someone actually picks up the phone rather then … “Your call is important to us, please HOLD while the NEXT AVALIBLE customer representative will be with you shortly.” Oh how I hate this! IF you call is IMPORANT why not ANSWER THE PHONE! I know after working at Vermont Teddy Bear that answering over 100,000 calls in a day CAN TAKE LONG, but you should BE PREPARED for an INFLUX of CALLS.