The Wall Street Journal, in its April 19^th edition, reports that “Retailers Try on New Sales Tactics”.  The new tactic?  Companies like JC Penney, Macy’s, and Home Depot plan to focus on customer service.  (Gasp.)  My guess, this new strategy could be downright revolutionary.

For starters, this ought not to be called news.  But since the WSJ found it noteworthy, let’s identify a couple of salient points.

1. Customer service is the best way to drive top line growth – JC Penney
2. Assisting customers assists the company – Home Depot is training cashiers to ask if customers have found what they sought

It shouldn’t surprise us that customer service helps companies grow.  What is important in the article is that customer service must be a constant focus, not a one-time program.  To achieve meaningful and lasting results, you and your employees must develop customer service muscle memory so that the first question we ask is “how can we help our customers get value?”  Companies like these may get short term results by reinvigorating their focus on service.  Mr. Spahr, at Home Depot gets it right when he indicates that strong relationships draw customers back into their stores.

The pivot point is that customer service is not a program, per se, but a culture, a way of doing business, and a commitment to social responsibility.  Cultures must be nurtured lest they gain an unintended life of their own.