Grocery stores are an amazing spectacle if you really think about it.  I mean, you can walk down an aisle and see a bunch of different companies who get their livelihood off of the same product.  It’s almost as if there is an infinite amount of choices in the simple task of picking out groceries in a store.

Choice is an important variable.  We live in a world of infinite choice – for whatever product you’re looking for; you have your choice of companies to spend your money with.  The days when companies could egotistically ignore customer service are gone.  In fact, with the rise of social media as a public complaint mechanism – I would say that the most important thing for a company right now is Customer Service.

Zappos is infinitely more famous because of their dedication to customer service (at least pre-Amazon merger).  The company built their following on those lines and nothing I write here would provide any new glimpses into that methodology.

What I want to know is the translation of money lost to companies that continually get dumped on for the customer service.  I don’t have access to that information but with things like United Breaks Guitars, Dominoes, Dooce’s Maytag experience – how has that translated into lost sales?  Is it marked or is it something that is barely noticeable and just seems louder through the ears of Social Media.

As more and more people take to the digital streets to proclaim their customer service problems, it will be interesting to see how companies react.  If there are no lost sales, will they continue to let the halls ring with bad customer reviews?  In this world of infinite choice, you would think that providing great customer service would be one of the easiest ways to differentiate your product from anothers.  Still, I find it funny how so many companies are unwilling to adopt better customer service – which, ultimately tells me that my question about the lost sales must have been figured out to be nil.  Still – I would love to delve into this subject at another time.  Customer Service to me is holy – and I want to learn more about the statistics behind it.