Customer Service

Been thinking a bit about customer service for a variety of reasons. First of all, I'm a customer! More about that in a bit.

Second, I'm reviewing a pair of books on the subject, due to run 7/28 in The Miami Herald and here the following day.

Third, the great Bob Lefsetz referred to this amazing website, brought to his attention by Mike Greene. (You can read Bob's rap about it here.)

To me, customer service is something that should be a part of every customer interaction. Duh! Seth Godin talks about it all the time, but it's stupid-obvious. Except, apparently, when it's not.

Case in point: the other night, my dear wife and I decided to go see The Dark Knight at the Imax place in Ft. Lauderdale next weekend. Long story short: despite the fact that there are links from the Imax website to purchase tickets, this theater's site does not have that capability, nor does it redirect to a third-party handling ticket sales.

For advance ticket sales, you must either personally visit the box office or order by phone. But the phone-ordering isn't 24/7, so I had to wait until the next day and remember to do it within the designated hours.

First Rule of Customer Service: Make it easy to buy your stuff.

If you think customer service is just a mechanism for dealing with screw-ups, you've already screwed up.