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c h a p t e r 5 : ╇ S ocial T echnology and B usiness D ecisions╇ ■point this out because in too many businesses, whether by accident or actual design,
customer support feels to customers like an obligation whose cost is to be minimized.

A different orientation—viewing a call from a customer as an opportunity to
create a moment of delight—is what defines firms like Zappos, though they are hardly
alone. Beth Thomases-Kim, Director of Consumer Services at Nestlé, took exactly this
view when she transformed a cost center—Customer Service—into a brand-building
touchpoint. By viewing each call as an opportunity and measuring the outcomes of the
calls, the customer service objectives morphed from optimizing call time (i.e., reducing
call time) to creating happier customers who are more likely to make subsequent pur-
chases as a result.

Beyond the support tools themselves, the essential practices that connect the
conversations occurring within them have to do with tracking and quantifying the
specific themes that recur. Issues in design, production, clarity of instructions, and a
lot more can be identified and corrected by examining these themes in detail. Tracking
service issues through associated tools like Jira is an easy way to identify candidate
132 activities for process improvement, just as looking at delivery or inventory issues leads
to improvement in supply chain processes.

Beyond directly addressing support and related issues, what else can you do with a
support forum? Along with product or service-related findings, support forums can also
yield valuable insights into the “hidden experts” that exist within your customer base.

This is precisely what Dell discovered as it acted on its own belief that the discus-
sions in and around its prior support structure indicated the presence of brand advo-
cates and subject matter experts within its customer base. By first turning controlled
degrees of support over to its customers—and increasing this over time—while addition-
ally making use of the reputation management tools that are available in best-of-class
support platforms, Dell was able to not only reduce its support costs while improving
the overall levels of customer satisfaction with its support services, Dell was also able
to identify the customer experts who existed in the support networks. This recognition
drove higher levels of engagement from these experts, in support of Dell’s overall efforts
to respond to the issues that Jeff Jarvis had called out.

When evaluating a support platform, pay particular attention to its reputa-
tion management and expert identification tools. Support platforms from Lithium
Technologies (providing the support platform for Dell referenced in the prior section)
are particularly good in this regard: Expert identification is the core strength of this
particular platform. When considering the use of a branded support community, look
for ways to identify and reward members who are providing above-average value.

Activate Your Customers: Control vs. Leadership

Consider customer/product interactions like those described in the case of Dell, and
in particular the roles played by the customer versus the business or organization. The