Distributor service managers are wondering what kind of impact social media in MLM is likely to have on customer service operations.
The answer is: it’s going to make customer service much more like marketing. In fact, for network marketing companies competing in today’s high-tech, high-speed marketplace, customer service is marketing. At the heart of direct selling is relationships, and the wise use of MLM social media is shaping culture and forging connections.
The ultimate question for the direct selling customer service executive becomes: how empowered are your employees to energize distributors and transform your business? MLM Distributors and customers have access to mind-boggling volumes of information and they have tremendous ability via social media to publicize service issues and problems. They can get their message about a negative customer experience out to a huge audience of customers and distributors, as well as potential recruits, in a matter of minutes, if not seconds.
As a result, the MLM distributor and customer experience has already become as much a marketing issue as a service issue. Solving problems, making customers happy and then harnessing their power to talk about you is marketing. Thus, customer service is marketing at its grassroots-level finest.
Consider the efforts customer service departments are making to win on the service battlefield:
- listen to customers and distributors (imagine that!)
- staff and organize properly to address service issues and root causes
- concentrate on the service experience
- plan to evolve and grow
- empower customer service agents to be resourceful with social media
- share management roles with customer service representatives
All this, and keep remembering that happy MLM distributors create successful MLM companies.