Truth 40. Customer service is the touch point of your brand

Improving customer service is not the most glamorous of marketing tasks. Advertising can be great fun. Traveling with the sales force can be enlightening. But the nuts and bolts of focusing on customer service can be an important component of your brand's success.

Customer service vividly reflects your brand. It is your brand promise brought to life in a one-on-one interaction. Product return hassles, long delays "on hold," transfers from person to person, careless delivery people, and grouchy people at the counter all help to sour feelings toward the brand. Often these interactions come just as your customer is making a purchase (placing a phone order, checking out at the register) or trying to repair a problem (product return). These interactions are sometimes the last contact with your brand before the long delay until their next purchase.