The Role of Customer Service in a Declining Economy

Labor costs are always a significant portion of any business. Typically, labor costs are defined as indirect and direct. Indirect labor costs refer to employees that are not directly involved in the manufacturing process of the business - they are ancillary positions such as white-color workers, office, clerical, and support staff. Direct labor costs refer to employees that are directly involved in the manufacturing or running of the business.

It is most unfortunate that in lean times such as the world-wide recession that is currently being endured by the global community, indirect labor costs are often the first to be slashed. Many times, regardless of the primary function of the company, the first thing to be "reduced, downsized, redirected, morphed, laid off, is the customer support area – which is typically classified as indirect labor. This is the last thing that a company should be doing when they are attempting to retain and gain new customers. If the customer support is not present and the customer is faced with a dazzling array of voice mail options, then the customer will go elsewhere to purchase their wares with their scarce money. How many times have you had to hunt on a website for an email address for customer support only to find none? How many times have you sat through a voice mail system where there is no "lives attendant" option? These "reductions" are NOT good hallmarks of customer service. At Synchro³², we want to hear from our customers.

I have recently been struggling with a global leader in computer manufacturing regarding the need to return a product that is incorrect. After umpteen untold emails and phone calls over the last week or so, I have yet to receive a reply. This company was more than happy to take my money when I placed the order, but they certainly don't want to handle my issue. It reminds of the John Grisham book “The Rainmaker” when an insurance company used policy manuals that “officially didn’t exist” to pay only claims of a certain amount and deny all others – creating an infinite loop so that the “customer” never received their benefits.

I've discussed this issue with others and everyone agrees that the customer service aspect that made this computer manufacturing company outstanding no longer exists. As a result, customers are taking their money elsewhere. In economic terms, money is a scarce and limited resource. In fact, the definition of economics is that it is the study of how best to apply and utilize scarce resources.

The decline of customer service is not limited to this one company and is not only a result of the current economic crisis. The decline of customer service has been on-going for many years. Some will remember when you used to be able to dial 0 for the operator to receive free assistance in placing a call and directory information was also free. These "benefits" and customer service norms no longer exist. Now days, anytime you try to reach a company by phone, if you can find a phone number to dial, you are faced with voice mail hell - how many options can you have to find the particular department or person you need to speak with. Of course, many times you are just referred to the FAQ's of the webpage. I hope I am not unique, but it seems that 9 out of 10 times the FAQ's don't address my topic and there is no option to talk with a live person. My unscientific findings lend credence to the fact that companies in the communication business are the ones that are most difficult to deal with on a communications basis.

I hate to admit it, but in my prior life I setup a voice mail hell system and was deliberately told to have no options to reach an operator. Zero pound sign was suspended. There were set options to reach departments and no general mail box. Some departments were even purposely omitted and could not be reached. The traffic department only had options to give directions based on where the truck driver was located, hours of operation, etc. There was no method by which to speak to anyone within the traffic or shipping department. The company made it very difficult for our CUSTOMERS to reach us - the reason our bread was buttered. The switchboard operator position was eliminated at the company saving what amounted to a little bit of floor sweeps each month. There is no telling how many customers were lost to the competition because the company decided that customer service was not important. The company certainly didn't mind taking payment for the goods and services, but customer service was not included in that equation. Entire websites are now setup to help CUSTOMERS circumvent companies voice and email systems and reach a live warm blooded human being.

At Synchro32, THE CUSTOMER AND POTENTIAL CUSTOMER are Kings and Queens. In fact, everyone that contacts Synchro32 is treated as royalty - from our vendors, suppliers, to people making an incorrect inquiry looking for something or someone else.

Synchro32 knows that without legendary and dedicated customer support, we are just another software company. During normal business working hours, when you call Synchro32 you will normally be greeted on the phone by a real live person. We have a very simple and straight forward voice mail connection system that will get you to a live person during operating hours. Are there exceptions to this? Yes, Synchro32 like any company is restrained by economic resources. If the support or sales desk is on the phone or otherwise unavailable, then you will leave a message. This message is then automagially dispatched to the Global Synchro32 Network where it appears as a digital voice recording. Then, any member of the worldwide Synchro32 support team can listen and respond to your inquiry. Additionally, Synchor32 currently spans most, but not all yet, of the worldwide time zones. Even within time zones that do not have constant support, there is only a short lag of a few hours. Furthermore, Synchro32 even monitors the support desk during weekends and holidays. At Synchro32, customer service is a hallmark of the quality of the software that we provide to the metalcasting industry.

During the lean economic times facing the metal casting industry, Synchro32 has NOT cutback, downsized, resized, redeployed or anything else with regards to our support or anything else for that matter. In fact, Synchro32 recently welcomed Richy Raine to the Synchro32 worldwide team based out of the UK.

When considering your current and future software needs, regardless of where you are in the world - look at Synchro32 first and then compare everyone else against Synchro32. Synchro32 is the benchmark by which metalcasting foundry specific software is judged. Make you a "grade" sheet of the software companies you are evaluating and include such items as software intuitiveness, ease of use, frequency of upgrades, dedication to the metal casting and foundry industry, costs/benefits, and of course support. I think you will find after the "exam" that Synchro32 is the true software gold standard of the metal casting and foundry industry without exception.