The Wow Factor

3/15/12 - Votacall Hosted VoIP - Boston, Massachusetts - The Harvard Business Review Blog is great because the majority of their insights can be applied regardless of trade or industry. One of the more recent blogs discussed "wowing" the customer and the effect it will have on your base. The Greg Smith Goldman Sachs article in the New York Times highlighted a lack of customer-centric views in finance, but that can be applied to most industries. Cloud Communications and the VoIP space in particular can be seen in this light. It is competitive, it is becoming commoditized...it is a dog fight to gain customers. Many Hosted VoIP Providers are simply trying to add seats to their VoIP platform by any means necessary. Managing the customers expectations is something avoided and designing the solution to fit the customer is a lost art form, rather the customer is being fit into the design of the VoIP Providers' Platform. This leads to major ongoing headaches, poor implementation and add on revenue to accomodate the customers' real needs. It is a scary model, but maybe a brilliant one because the more difficult the implementation the more likely the customer will never replace it because who would want to subject themselves or their company to such telecom torture. Votacall strives to "wow" the customer during the initial pitch, system design, implementation and ongoing support. We feel that the customer should pay for the higher level of service that we provide as we truly are looking out for the best interest of our client now and into the future. Do we exceed customer expectations, not always, but I can say that we always strive for an enhanced customer experience.

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/03/the_value_in_wowing_your_customers.html