Thanks to Tim Mayeur (Argentus’ guest blogger TODAY), Ecommerce Operations Professional within the Retail Sector and with one of North America’s largest Big Box Retailers, for giving us some further insight about why Relationships with Customers is so very important. He wrote:

I believe this will be the battleground of the future and is where agility wins. The price of a product or service is not everything for a generation raised in a rich world of features, add-ons, apps and with near instant access to data and people. The old term of “word of mouth” should be modernized to include social networking.

Customer service is the competitive edge in a social networking world where “word of mouth” is replaced with “viral”.  It’s not about pushing products or services but instead how you value each other during a process that leaves a lasting impression.  Powerful relationships are ones that are mutual, collaborative and where each of you looks out for the other’s success, which in turn becomes your success.  Many people have this instinct to clap when a couple announces they’ve been married 50 years.  It’s a lot of little things that add up to a big thing where the investment of time becomes invaluable.

In an online world where “like”, “friend” and “follow” are a click away, true relationships still hold meaning.  How many people are you connected with on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter that you truly feel that you have a relationship with?  How many businesses do you feel you have a relationship with?  Don’t over think it.  The meaningful ones always stand-out and never get lost in the masses.  Now when you think of businesses, what did you feel and what experience did they provide that made you feel that way?  I bet it wasn’t based solely on getting a great price.

A recent example on Twitter, I signed up to follow @chaptersindigo and responded to one of their product tweets with a correction of spelling to the product name on their website.  In 2 minutes the person responded that it would be fixed, subsequently it was.  What was meaningful was them taking the time to write a simple “thank you” and quick response.  Now I know this isn’t a meaningful relationship that I have with Indigo that is leading to marriage but certainly I have a warm sentiment about the experience of feeling valued, to the point where I would share it (the experience) with others.  The little things that add up…

Two quotes that come to mind:

 “Less dancing.  More truth.  We must crack open the tightly clenched fist of commerce and give a little back for the greater good.” from Jerry Maguire’s Mission Statement

“Caring for the first time is scalable” from Gary Vaynerchuk, Co-Founder of VaynerMedia.com

And one last comment from me, Bronwen.

At the end of the day, it really is all about going that extra mile for the customer – and I wholeheartedly agree with Tim. It’s most often the small things that make all the difference!!!  It’s what differentiates one from ones competitors. For example, as Recruiters to Retail Operations and Category Management as well as Retail Executive Search, Argentus is in an industry of fast talkers and low deliverers. We work hard to stand above that and know we deliver a far better quality service. Our strong referral stream into our network demonstrates Tim’s point about high quality service delivery and cultivating solid long term relationships.

By the way, KUDOS to Indigo for really standing out yet again as a top quality Retailing organization when it comes to the Customer Experience. I couldn’t agree more – I think they are terrific and love shopping there.

I am very interested to hear from others like Tim in our network who have an interest in joining me as a guest blogger. Thanks for your insights Tim.