Service is sustainability

By: Nathalie Schooling

Service is sustainability

While green is undoubtedly the colour of the future, and caring for our environment is a vital part of business, if your company is focusing so much on its environmental impact that it loses sight of its customers and their needs, it can’t be said to be truly sustainable.

By definition, sustainable means ‘able to be maintained’. So if your business isn’t focused on understanding what your customers require, how they want to be treated, and how to keep them coming back to enjoy exceptional experiences with your company, then no amount of green is going to keep you from going into the red.

Unfortunately, customer service doesn’t seem to have made it into the sustainability vocabulary of most organisations. However,raising the profile of the customer as a vital success component should be an integral part of any business’s sustainability plan. That’s because:

Customers require care. Businesses are spending a lot of time, effort and money on measuring and reducing their carbon footprints. A lot less time, effort and money is going into measuring the impact businesses are having on their customers and making sure that impact is positive. Just as businesses need to limit the damage they do to the environment, they also need to be aware of the damage that poor customer service can do to their bottom line. They also need to be aware of the positive sustainability and profitability spin-offs of a focus on good customer service and experiences. 

Customers can make or break your business. Increasing numbers of customers want to buy from businesses that are ‘green’. Interestingly, this concept of customers voting with their feet has been around for centuries – just ask any business that has let its customers down by giving them bad service. Environmental care and customer care aren’t mutually exclusive. As a business you should be focused on both if you want to be sustainable. Otherwise, in both instances, your customers are going to take their business elsewhere.

Customer relationships are a good measure of business health. These days, most consumers look at health, relationships and lifestyle as important aspects in their overall prosperity. They don’t want to do business with a brand, they want to deal with real people who exhibit a real concern for their happiness. Which is why businesses need to nurture solid relationships with customers if they want to be sustainable.

Good customer service lowers costs. Efficiency is key to sustainability. By increasing their energy efficiency, for instance, businesses are not only helping the environment, they are lowering their costs. When it comes to customers, efficiency is equally important. People want the best experience from your company with the lowest hassle factor. And your business stands to benefit from significantly lower costs if it gets customer service right first time, every time.

Those companies that recognise the fact that great customer experiences are core to sustainability, and that have the vision to include the customer service as a sustainability and strategic imperative now, will almost certainly put themselves ahead of the game in years to come. Andlet’s face it, sustainability makes the most sense when it results in market leadership and long-term profitability.