Branded Customer Service

In this summary you will learn

• Why branded customer service is important
• How to boost customers’ attachment to your brand
• How to strengthen your brand through training and analyzing best practices

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Why you should read Branded Customer Service

Delivering quality customer service with a constant, consistent brand message is a powerful way to extend a brand’s reach, say authors and consultants Janelle Barlow and Paul Stewart. When consumers have a positive experience, they buy more and become repeat customers. No doubt, it certainly would be great for morale if employees embodied their brands and if employers honored all their advertising claims and kept all their promises to staffers and consumers. The problem is that companies do many things that have nothing to do with branding. At least, that is true everywhere except inside this book, which suffers from brand myopia or, maybe, just tunnel vision. The book has many strong assets: it offers chapters of solid instruction, it makes a great case that good companies should deliver good service and it contains a helpful "toolbox" of branding-related exercises for managers. It just seems to posit that every non-manufacturing aspect of IBM, Apple or Coca-Cola is about branding - but it is not. Still, for the intrepid manager who wants to provoke more customer interaction and employee involvement around the brand totem, getAbstract finds this book instructive, particularly the interesting anecdotes and case studies. Of course, branding activities can be very effective - but, like other campaigns, they are best when executed with perspective.

About the Authors

Janelle Barlow is president of TMI and a partner in TMI International, a consulting firm with offices in 36 countries. She is also the author of A Complaint Is A Gift and Emotional Value. She regularly appears on CNBC’s NPR Marketplace. Paul Stewart is director of TMI New Zealand and the former chief economist for the ANZ Banking Group.