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July 29, 2005
Lessons from a "Nerd" on Customer Service
Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, has published an outstanding missive on customer service in MIT's Technology Review. After reading it, you can understand why 10 million people a month use Craigslist, despite the fact that the site’s popularity has been earned almost entirely through word of mouth:
I figure that reasonably good customer service is part of the social contract between producer and consumer. In general, if you're going to do something, you should follow through and not screw around. As a nerd, I have the tendency to take things pretty seriously, so if I commit to something, I try really hard to stay committed.
This isn't altruism or social activism; it's just giving people a break. Pretty much all world religions tell us that one moral value is to help other people if you can. I feel that customer service, even when you get paid for it, is an expression of that value, an everyday form of compassion. . .
I feel that all this is a deep expression of democratic values. From a business point of view, of course, it makes good sense, too: it lowers our costs and improves the quality of what's on our site. Finally, it helps keep management in touch with what's real--or at least that's what we hope.
Unfortunately, in contemporary corporate culture, customer service is often an afterthought, given lip service only. This seems to be part of the general dysfunction of large organizations. As a company accumulates power and money, the people who are skilled at corporate politics take control of it. Customer service never seems to be highly prized by people with those skills. Maybe it's because they lack empathy.
I speak with a lot of workers at many companies, and for the most part, they really want to provide good customer service. But they tell me they're often prevented from doing so because service is seen as a cost and not something that contributes to profits.
Me, maybe a lot of my motivation derives from the name of our site; I take things personally. Maybe sometime this year I can go part time as a customer service rep, and I could use a day off, maybe a Sunday. But I plan to be doing customer service forever. . .
Wow! How many commentaries like this a from Fortune 500 CEO would you believe were truly sincere, particularly based on your own experience with their organization?
Social contract between producer and consumer? Deep expression of democratic values? Say what?
Run through a few big-time CEOs in your mind. How many of them can you visualize working part time as a customer service rep? How many provoke your laughing out loud at the mere thought of it?
Reading such a powerful statement helps illustrate in vivid colors how a "small" attitude can make your business big. It's certainly done so for Craig Newmark.
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