Customer Service: One Cup at a Time

For those of us who are regular coffee drinkers, the Keurig coffee maker is becoming a standard fixture in our lives. It is showing up in offices, homes and other locations where people gather to sip coffee and do what they do. It is, indeed, becoming what every business owner and marketer dreams of when they make a product to sell: a brand name which defines a product (think Kleenex or Xerox).

In late September, at NEPPA’s annual Customer Service Conference held at the historic Colonial Inn in Concord, Mass., Chris Stevens, Vice President of Keurig and one of its founding partners, told us the Keurig story and how his dream of a "single cup delivery system" for coffee and other beverages has come to life. It is a true American success story, and Chris Stevens tells it like no one else can: four friends, putting almost all of their own money into a start-up company, and knocking on doors all over Boston, New York and other cities to ask people to try their new machine. In addition to his enthusiasm and determination, Chris also described the importance of role models in his life, and how the accomplishments of other successful people provided him with the inspiration to keep moving forward, regardless of the obstacles in his path. It is a great story, and was inspiring to all of us in the audience.

In addition to Chris Stevens, the conference featured two other speakers who provided unique insights into the world of customer service. Adam Goldkamp, Chief Operations Officer of GetHuman.com, described the website that he and his partner have developed which assists people in getting past automated telephone systems to speak with real people in large organizations. As he told us, there are many customer interactions that can only be resolved by direct conversations between people, and his website greatly facilitates such conversations, thus benefitting both the customer and the company he is purchasing from.

Finally, Scott Kirsner, Innovation Economy columnist for the Boston Globe, opened all our eyes to the many new and innovative ways that companies are engaging their customers, from car rental agencies to hotels and online shopping. He reminded us that shoppers today have very high customer service expectations, due to the "customization" of the shopping experience in many different fields, and that these expectations will eventually impact all service transactions, including the purchase of electricity.

In addition to these great presentations, the conference also provided an opportunity to recognize a number of public power officials for their contributions to outstanding customer service in their own organizations with the Carol Tracey Award for Excellence in Customer Service. (see related article)

In brief, the 2011 NEPPA Customer Service Conference provided us all with some new insights and new ways of thinking about customer service. Like others in the audience I am sure, I left with a healthy dose of inspiration and a new understanding on how customers expect to be served.