Nashville, TN–Forget fancy branding campaigns. The key to success is meeting and exceeding your customers’ expectations, especially when it comes to service. “Operations and fulfillment lies at the heart of your business because it tells the story of what your brand is about,” said customer service expert Joe Calloway during the April 29 opening session at the National Conference on Operations and Fulfillment (NCOF). “Everything that you do these days in operations and fulfillment flows out to the marketplace to your customer.”
Calloway stressed that “operations and fulfillment is driving customer expectations these days.” And those expectations continue to grow, as more consumers become used to the speedy, user-friendly service of such marketers as Amazon.com.
For that reason, Calloway said, marketers cannot be complacent with past or even current levels of performance. “What you want to do is to create a separate category in the minds of your customer and be the only company in that category to the point where you transcend commodity,” Calloway explained. He cited Harley Davidson, BMW, and Disney as companies that continue to evolve. “Customers don’t mind paying more…as long as you deliver on the promise.”
NCOF, cosponsored by “Operations and Fulfillment” magazine and the Direct Marketing Association, runs through Wednesday at the Opryland Resort here.