It is sad to say, but true, that when you call a service provider more often than not you get phone mail.

Most of us want to speak to a real person, but we often don’t have that opportunity. We have been trained to expect that the customer service provided will be unresponsive. We expect our problems and concerns will be left unresolved. We have come to expect to swear at the service we receive.

Those are our expectations. We’d love to swear by the service providers instead.

The organizations that get us to swear by them are the ones who’ll build competitive barriers that the competition will find hard to overcome. The organizations that will win in this down economy are the ones who exceed our dismally low expectations.

Today we see all sorts of advertising painting pictures of how the new gismo or service will make our lives better.

Women for generations have been bombarded by ads for Tide, Cheer and All detergents promising more than just clean clothes… promising happy family experiences. The soap merchants know that it’s emotion that sells!

Buying a new electronic gear we have been primed to envision how our life will be instantly better.

We expect that the benefits depicted on TV will come with the purchase.

We expect that the product will work seamlessly with our existing equipment.

Too often that just doesn’t happen. We have come to expect that resolving even small problems will be a major headache; finding a sympathetic ear nearly impossible.

Such experiences do not make our over-stressed lives better… and sadly, we have come to expect and accept that poor treatment. You can exceed those low expectations.

A friend recently ordered Broadband Internet service from a major national company. The box arrived on time, but the equipment didn’t work.

The first call ended when he could not summon an un-important piece of account information. A call to another number led to the promise of an overnight replacement. Almost a week later, the proper equipment arrived after a third call. In the interim, the supplier was unable to track the package being sent via UPS. Neither could the customer track his shipment.

This story is surprising in a number of ways. The most surprising: the customer support system at this major company was not designed to provide timely, responsive customer service.

Such a little thing . . . so very, very important.

If that company wanted to guarantee negative customer emotional responses to its services, it could have hardly designed a more unresponsive system.

I am sure you can easily imagine several obvious ways to improve the service. What is truly revealing is that this major company, who has been offering this Broadband service for nearly 10 years, has not made the obviously needed improvements

Oh, by the way, that Broadband provider is currently running a major TV and print advertising campaign costing millions promoting this service.

Truck-loads of gold to advertise a fair to poor service, not even a shovelful to re-engineer its customer support that would make it truly excellent. Unwise in the extreme!

Let’s face it, engaging people who have a problem can be unpleasant. Perhaps it’s our nature to avoid confrontations. However, customer issues not confronted head-on but left unresolved, fester and become bigger problems; some even windup as lawsuits.

Modern Information Technology can be employed in limitless ways. It appears that most common customer-facing IT technology has been used to reduce the personal touch. Perhaps that is because the people who designed it are technicians who are most comfortable dealing with machines rather than people.

But most customers like to be treated like people not machines. They like to feel the personal touch. Technology investments that provide excellence in customer service, that provide a personal touch are relatively cheap.

Differentiating on this dimension can make a real difference in client perceptions and emotional response.

It can be instrumental in your exceeding expectations.

The Futurist Patrick Dixon describes another experience. hen he calls his local water utility, they immediately connect him to James, the client support person who dealt with him previously.

James, you see has developed a positive relationship with Patrick. And if James is not there, the client-services professional apologizes and offers his assistance.

As he engages Patrick, he pulls up the account profile and James’ notes on prior encounters. Dixon senses that he is not just a nameless account number… he is treated as a person that James and his associates care about.

More important, Dixon believes that they will take care to resolve his issues. Patrick now expects that the Water Board will do its best to provide him excellent service and make sure he gets what he needs. He tells everyone about his unusually excellent treatment!

What if your organization could do that? Might not your clients/customers choose you in preference to the alternatives?

As Dixon points out, business success is more about emotions than product features. You can differentiate by providing superlative service to clients who rarely get that.

You can win if your customers have strong emotional attachment to your organization.

You’ll win if potential customers expect to get better treatment by engaging your organization rather than your competitors.

Raymond Corey who held an Endowed Chair in Marketing at the Harvard Business School famously advised his clients and students to "go where they aren’t."

Today with all the cut backs and economizing, service levels are falling to all time lows. Go where they aren’t… offer the human touch and provide responsive customer service.

Exceed expectations… it will win you friends, customers and higher profits.

Special thanks to Errol Naiman for bringing his thoughts to print in our issue this month!

(Michelle Patterson is founder and managing partner of TouchPointe, headquarter in Ladera Ranch. TouchPointe is a senior level consulting and recruiting firm, specializing in the placement of finance, accounting, IT, and human resources in both interim and permanent positions. You can contact TouchPointe at 949-218-0866 or at www.touchpointe.com.)