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Customer service is the set of behaviors that a business undertakes during its interaction with its customers. It can also refer to a specific person or desk which is set up to provide general assistance to customers.
The notion of customer service as a tool of competitive advantage started to gain ground in the United States in the 1980s, and has become a worldwide phenomenon.
In Service America! (1985), Karl Albrecht and Ron Zemka wrote that we live in a service economy where organizations must perform as well as produce, and physical products are distinguished by the quality of the service that go with them. Management gurus started to talk about the customer driven business, and they argued that the "Customer is King". Jan Carlzon of Scandinavian Airlines claimed that he had transformed his business by paying attention to what he called Moments of Truth, where the subjective and fragmentary experience of customers on the phone or speaking to front-line staff led them to form firm judgements – good and bad – about that company.
Tom Peters grew to prominence by proclaiming the message that organizations need to be turned upside down to serve the customer. That is, the familiar organization pyramid should be reversed, with attention and status given to front-line customer contact employees. British Airways improved its image and service through an internal campaign called Putting People First – aiming to take time to satisfy the customer and seeing service as internal as well as external, with everyone working together to serve the customer. The US department store Nordstrom is often held up as an example of superior service, with staff going to endless trouble to satisfy the needs of customers. It became a goal to not just satisfy the customers but also to delight them by going beyond expectations.
Techniques for managing in a customer-focused environment include revisiting strategy, processes, organization, motivation, and incentives, as well as conducting research to find out what the customer actually wants. Other techniques focus on empowering and energizing customer service employees who, despite the rest of the organization being in good shape, can let a company's image down.
Currently, most organizations claim to treat customer satisfaction as an important issue. This extends to government departments, hospitals, and care workers as well as businesses. Targets and service standards are commonplace, and customer expectations have increased.
Many organizations have attempted to automate many routine interactions with their customers, because face-to-face customer service is the most labor-intensive, expensive, and risky way to do business with consumers. As is often demonstrated in movies and television shows, one bad employee or one bad consumer can ruin a day for many other employees and consumers. This is why banks encourage customers to use ATMs, many gas stations have self-service pumps complete with built-in credit-card readers, and many supermarkets have self-checkout stands.
Despite all these efforts, it is still argued that many organizations are not good at service and that large organizations in particular are frustrating for the customer to deal with. For example, automation can go awry if not executed correctly, as shown by widespread dissatisfaction with voice mail systems.
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