No, not all category leaders are good at customer service. As MBS has pointed out, those who have monopoly grants from the government often prosper without customer service. Those who offer retail Internet connectivity (often WISPs), have customer service as a differentiator - sometimes it's their only differentiator, because they're shut out by law from string cable/fiber, and can only occupy a small niche, usually well outside of a metropolitan market.
As well, I'm fairly sure not all companies with good customer service are category leaders, though I think that's more often true in smaller markets - but if I were to run across such a company, I'd probably prefer to buy their stock, and would definitely give them my custom. However, in most free(ish) markets, category leaders are often, though not always, very good at customer service. It probably depends a lot on the market in question. Take groceries, for example. My wife and I don't shop at the large corporate chain stores that are local to me (Albertsons, QFC, Safeway, etc.). We shop at a smaller locally owned store, where they have very good service, and a really good selection - not just the basics, but nice stuff that it's hard to find at the large chains that focus on the lowest price at the cost of service and selection. Their prices where I shop are usually within a percent of the large stores. For me (and obviously a fair number of other people, as the store is doing well), customer service wins. Kurt On Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 3:20 PM, Andrew S. Baker <asbz...@gmail.com> wrote: > So, only the category leaders (and those vying to be category leaders) > offer customer service? > > Are there any category leaders that *don't* offer customer service (or > anything approaching real customer service), while others in their category > do? > > > > > > > *ASB **http://XeeMe.com/AndrewBaker* <http://xeeme.com/AndrewBaker> > *Providing Virtual CIO Services (IT Operations & Information Security) for > the SMB market…* > > > > > On Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 10:07 AM, Kurt Buff <kurt.b...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> On Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 5:56 AM, Steven M. Caesare <scaes...@caesare.com> >> wrote: >> >> Re: Companies' incentives: That's not universally true. I refer you to >> companies that have as at least some of their core operating principles the >> ideas of customer service - >> > >> > That's an ends to a means. That customer service exists to promote >> goodwill with regard to the customer buying products the sell, >> > >> > The litmus test for these: >> > >> > Cold the company conceivably exist by eliminating the "extra mile" >> customer service? Yes. Could they existin by eliminating product sales? No. >> >> Hrm. I don't think that's the right yardstick. I believe the question >> should be: Would these companies be category leaders if they didn't >> have such good customer service? And I believe the answer is no. >> >> Kurt >> >> >> >
