I am, it should be said, something of a customer service geek.  Sat surveys, creative relationship management techniques, retention rates--these are all manna to my heaven, work wise.  I find it genuinely exciting that so many businesses these days, large and small, have begun to engage themselves daily with the greater good tenets of customercentricity: hyperattention to detail, anticipating and overdelivering on client needs, and above all, treating customers with a singular, studied respect.

And yet, even as this surpassing movement towards all that is good and holy in the Church of Forward-Thinking Customer Service can't help but engender better companies and happier customers, I'm occasionally reminded that a narrower, simpler focus on not doing the wrong things can at times be just as important to a business bent on raising its customer sat through the roof.

There are hundreds of ways to sever a good customer relationship at the root.  None work so neatly as disdain: there's something almost atavistic to the disappointment I feel as a customer when I'm being treated with disrespect.  It's less a personal disappointment than it is a visceral sense of disconnectedness, an unwillingness to tarry any longer where I don't feel welcome, and it's a short leap from that precipice into the churn of seeking out new spots to bring my business.

And make no mistake, as there are hundreds of ways to sever a customer relationship, there are hundreds upon hundreds of ways to disdain your customers to that end; while some, like a haughty, gum-cracking barista, are markedly and transparently BAD FOR BUSINESS, others, such as a prohibitively confusing website (WHERE IS THE CONTACT INFO?!?!?!) or the endless drone of a telephone menu are just as effective at killing customer goodwill.  Killing it softly, indeed...

Most customercentric businesses, I'd wager, already check themselves for customer flashpoints regularly; nonetheless, as we at Catchlight look towards updating our website and marketing collateral in preparation for the upcoming exterior painting season, we'll be paying particular attention to transparence of language, ease of website navigation, and means by which our customers might feel drawn ever nearer, in all that we do.  We've redoubled a substantial commitment to our customers' homes and surroundings in 2008; we aim to match that commitment with a more concerted, inclusive focus on customer contact, and we welcome your thoughts and suggestions in that arena, or any other!