University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Branded Customer Service
Book

Branded Customer Service

The New Competitive Edge

Janelle Barlow and Paul Stewart
Berrett-Koehler, 2004
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Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • For Beginners

Recommendation

Delivering quality customer service with a constant, consistent brand message is a powerful way to extend a brand’s reach, say authors and consultants Janelle Barlow and Paul Stewart. When consumers have a positive experience, they buy more and become repeat customers. The book seems to posit that every nonmanufacturing aspect of IBM, Apple or Coca-Cola is about branding – but it isn't. Still, the intrepid manager who wants to provoke more customer interaction and employee involvement around the brand totem will find this book instructive. Of course, branding activities can be very effective – but, like other campaigns, they are best when executed with perspective.

Summary

Matching Words and Actions

While all brands are intended to generate specific customer reactions, "branded customer service" drives home even more powerful impressions. Done properly, it can increase a brand’s positive impressions, creating a ripple effect and adding to the brand’s overall strength.

Brands are a combination of values, beliefs and service expectations. A brand can propel a product and keep it fresh in customers’ minds, the harbor for the complex group of associations a brand name embodies. Branding is not just a concept bandied about by the marketing department. When a consumer has to choose between competing brands of anything from tissue paper to automobiles, the three elements of branding - authority, identification and social approval - play a role in the buying decision. These elements may help explain why Julia Roberts has been Hollywood’s highest paid actress for the past 20 years. She is a known quality; when people go to see her movies, they know they will feel good when they leave the theater.

Advertising addresses consumer wants and needs that can be satisfied consciously and unconsciously. Branding works at different levels to meet...

About the Authors

Janelle Barlow is president of TMI and a partner in TMI International, a consulting firm with offices in 36 countries. She is also the author of A Complaint Is A Gift and Emotional Value. She regularly appears on CNBC’s NPR Marketplace. Paul Stewart is director of TMI New Zealand and the former chief economist for the ANZ Banking Group.

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