I am currently in a sales training class at Trustpointe, a Sandler Sales Company, who I highly recommend to anyone looking for sales training and expertise. We were talking about the idea of quality, service, and expertise not mattering when involved in marketing communications. I have been wrestling with that concept over the past 48 hours and decided… who best to ask?
I have been under the assumption that it is absolutely idiotic to use “best customer service” in marketing communications. I’m still convinced that you have to be a little more creative to gain the attention of a consumer base when using traditional marketing… even more when using social media marketing.
Plain and simple… everyone has quality, service, and expertise. What makes you different from everyone in your industry? If I get hit with marketing that says “Best Quality since 1889
“… Do I really care? No. I don’t.
I care about how you personally take care of your customers. I care about how you go about your daily routine.
Seth Godin has always said that people have come to expect that you have quality, service, and expertise… you do not have to keep telling us… show us.
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Matt Nettleton
Excellent post and as a sales trainer at Sandler Training, Trustpointe, my belief is that if you have to tell me that you have quality service and expertise I am probably talking to the wrong person
Marsha Golod
I have to disagree with this statement, "Plain and simple… everyone has quality, service, and expertise." I am a co-founder of a concierge & event services firm in Manhattan and my clients repeatedly tell me that the reason they use my firm is because we provide superior customer care. As a planner, I work with many different vendors and suppliers and believe me, certainly not all of them have good customer service. That said, I believe that this is still a great selling point and many customers are willing to pay premium prices to know that they will be taken care of by a reliable partner.
kylelacy
Thanks for the comment Marsha. My post was more towards a lead generation standpoint. Many people SAY they have great quality, service, and expertise. It is not wise to lead with the service and expertise in selling and marketing communications. Only after the fact can you sell through referrals based on quality and expertise.
robbyslaughter
The title of this post is misleading. It suggest that "Quality, Service, and Expertise Do Not Matter." But of course, these do matter and they are a key factor for differentiating businesses.
The reality is that talking about quality, service and expertise is not a fruitful exercise. It's a form of Brandon's Rule.
kylelacy
Most of my blog titles are misleading. Thanks for pointing that out though. 🙂
Kevin Hood
I get and like the point, but have to agree with others that every company doesn't have good customer service. To your point, you can't just advertise "service" or "best customer service" or whatever lame phrase. It has to express specific pains that a certain industry or type of customer feels. If you can do that, and shock the potential customer of how you read their mind, you can win with good customer service. Sometimes all it takes is a quick follow up to their initial request and a quick quote. You look like you are prompt and that you care.
Quality and other bullet points . . . depending on the industry or product, kind of lost in the piles of numerous quotes. You have to get personal and somehow make a relationship offline (like you preach.)
Karen Massin
I like Kyle's article. At the end he wrote "Seth Godin has always said that people have come to expect that you have quality, service, and expertise… you do not have to keep telling us… show us."
I totally agree with Kyle, it's just like Margaret Thatcher quoted "Being a leader is like being a lady, if you have to go around telling people you are one, you aren't."
A lot of multinational companies write nowadays that they manage by "corporate governance" and use "state of the art tools". Everybody writes this, so from a marketing angle it has no effect on people anymore.
It doesn't mean that it's not important – all on the contrary – but that it's value lays in how they practice what they preach.
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[…] of information they have on their websites. Friend and colleague, Kyle Lacy, recently wrote that quality, service and expertise does not matter. He’s right – especially on a […]