Do great customer service and low-paid staff go together?
October 19, 2010Building a blogging comment community
October 21, 2010
I was talking to Don Hales from the Customer Service Training Association the other day about how companies use customer service to help them out and he told me a story about Tower 42, a City-based office tower block in London, and how they are using customer service as a means to stand out from the crowd.
He told me that Tower 42 are applying five-star, hotel-like service to serviced offices and that they are swimming against the tide on office rents in London by charging high office rents but combining that with exceptional customer service and facilities.
Their vision is:
We provide outstanding service and first class facilities to exceed our customers’ expectations. Our team is developed and encouraged to achieve the highest standards of excellence
Looking their website, they must be doing something right as being the highest office block in the City of London they only have 4 units free in the whole building.
They seem to have deduced that competing on price alone is a race to the bottom of the market and that swimming against the tide on office rents in London and offering something different is a clear way to help them stand out from the rest of the market.
I love stories like this as it provides an example of a business that is willing to do something different in order to help them compete and stand out.
I’d love to hear your stories about companies that you have seen that are swimming against the tide whether it is on price or service or the way that they deliver to their customers so we can all learn from each other.
What’s your favourite story of a company or organisation that you think is swimming against the tide and winning?
Thanks to Scott Ableman for the image.
6 Comments
Just added a new post after a chat w/ @donhalesworldof – Using customer service to swim against the tide and stand out http://bit.ly/bCjJSf
If you recall Seth Godin’s book, The Purple Cow, then you can think of this as The Purple Cow of Service ….. what is it you do that makes your service memorable in a sea of service providers?
As consultants we are all in the service provision business too. Early in the relationship with a new client I will sometimes tell them publicly that my aspiration is to become the benchmark by which they evaluate all other service providers. A tall order, but it then requires me to find out who and what they consider best in class and how I can beat that mark. And when I do, they let me know. Looks like Tower 42 has found and ascended to that level themselves.
Hi Marc,
That sounds like a great approach with your clients and something that will allow you to continue to raise the service bar for yourself. Great idea. I’d like to understand a bit more about how that works and what it has pushed you to do/achieve…..guest post here maybe?
Adrian
RT @adrianswinscoe: Swimming against the tide to help you stand out http://bit.ly/cj3N7a
Hello, I really like your site. Subject matter is interesting. I wonder from where you get your ideas? I also run a blog, but for me it is just the beginning. Came to visit my site. Maybe you will like it. Regards, Matt
Hi Matt,
Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment. I am glad that you like the site and content.
As for where I get my ideas…..I keep a note book with me most of the time and I get my ideas from work with businesses and reflecting on stuff that I have seen and experienced on a day to day basis.
Hope that helps,
Adrian