Customer Loyalty and Customer Service: Do you have friends or colleagues who prefer dealing with people rather than machines? My wife is like that. When she needs to know her bank balance or just get some cash, she will go out of her way to talk to a bank teller rather than fumble with an ATM; and she'll always push the button for a "live operator" on an automated telephone service menu.
This doesn't mean that my wife is averse to technology -- she uses email, iPods, cell phones, and the usual array of 21st century devices. But at the same time she is drawn to personal, human customer service and wants it to be part of her life
For the past 20 years, companies have struggled to find the right balance between cost-effective, technologically-enabled approaches to customer service and person-to-person contact. While personal approaches have advantages for many people (like my wife), they require much more training, reduce consistency, and cost more.
