Gurus On Marketing

Peters and Waterman highlight the following service attributes for
their ‘excellent’ companies:
Service obsession
IBM, for example, answer every customer complaint within 24 hours;
they really care about service; they are customer-driven and not technology-drive;
they measure internal and external customer satisfaction
on a monthly basis; they train their sales staff very effectively; they
always act as if it were on the verge of losing every customer.
‘In fact one of our most significant conclusions about the excellent
companies is that, whether their basic business is metal bending,
high technology or hamburgers, they have all defined themselves
as service business.’
Quality obsession
The example provided is that of Caterpillar Tractor which:
‘Offers customers forty-eight hour guaranteed parts delivery service
anywhere in the world; that’s how Cat is in first place ensuring that
its machine works.’
Excellence of quality, reliability of performance and loyalty in dealer
relationships seemed to be the guiding principles of the business.
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