Rewarding customer service.

In "How much extra for nice? ", marketing guru Seth Godin wonders how much more he'd be prepared to pay for people to be nice to him.

But customer service isn't just about being nice. It's about being effective, about doing the things you said you'd do. You said you'd call back? You said you'd send through that e-mail proposal? You said your engineer would arrive when? Once you start making empty promises, or not following through on the actions you've agreed, customer service becomes meaningless.

Helpful, knowledgeable sales assistants, field engineers, and customer support staff are the contact points between an organisation and its customers. Ultimately, more than price, the feelings that customers have when dealing with these people will determine whether they remain long term customers. Being nice is all part of it, but it's meaningless if it's purely superficial. If you're going to be an onion seller you really need to know your onions.

But rewarding customer satisfaction could also be a great way to improve customer service. We're working on a tool which will allow companies' customers to complete a quick satisfaction survey, and reward points to the employee for providing great customer service.