Customer Service is a Contact Sport

(This entry was originally published on Ryan Estis' blog: www.passionpurposeblog.com.)

I had the good fortune of delivering the Day 2 keynote address this morning at the International Customer Management Institute's ACCE 2012 Conference & Expo.

The event, positioned as the global gathering for the customer contact community, delivers a powerful agenda of curriculum intended to elevate the customer experience.

Customer contact and brand experience are where business is won and lost. Where relationships are fleeting or forged. Where customers are transformed into ambassadors and evangelize a brand or end up in the hands of the competition.

Who cares? Anyone in business should.

Without customers you don’t have a business. Without satisfied customers you don’t stay in business. Without raving fan, brand ambassadors you aren’t very well positioned to accelerate growth in the new economy. You earn those kind of relationships today by delivering extraordinary experiences. Nothing less. If the experience isn’t meaningful and memorable enough where customers are compelled to tell somebody else it simply isn’t good enough. Today, you have to be better than good. You have to be RockStar good!

This event breaks it down and tears it apart from every angle. Touch points, tools, technology, measurement, analysis. You get the drill.

Who is telling other people how wonderful it is to do business with you? Is how you do business a driver of growth? Is your culture a competitive advantage?

Worth considering. Today customer service is a catalyst to accelerate sales, organic growth and brand equity. Or it will stop you cold. No middle ground. The status quo is dead.

If you are in the customer contact game and want to stay relevant Seattle is a great place to be today. If you aren’t here you can follow #ACCE12.

Today reinforced for me the notion that customer experience is a full time, contact sport. Every touch point matters and it pays to care more than the other guy.

It also pays to spend time around people that really do care than much.

Thanks ICMI for including me in your extraordinary experience this week!

Ryan Estis is Chief Experience Officer of Ryan Estis & Associates. He is a USA Sr. Associate with Employer Brand International, an advisory member on the SmartBrief Workforce Council, a certified Human Capital Strategist and professional member of the National Speakers Association. www.ryanestis.com. [email protected]. www.passiononpurposeblog.com. @ryanestis.