When Elvis Presley died August 16, 1977, at age 42, fans around the world went into a collective state of shock.  This week marked 40 years since his death and there are no signs of his memories fading. Some music critics argue that his fame is excessive when compared to other legends like Stevie Wonder or David Bowie, however few would contest that Elvis was the founder of modern day pop with all its sexiness and glamour. He created, delivered and communicated tirelessly to a worldwide market who had never experienced anything like his performances till that point.

Elvis is an enigma in today’s instant gratification world where new stars don’t seem to endure, be they bands, brands or personalities. It’s difficult to have a long lens with things like Twitter where by the time you have caught up on a few tweets everything has disappeared, like a tide washing away the footprints leaving a fresh new sandy beach. And of course, everyone can be famous on social; some people are famous for being famous in stark contrast to stars like Elvis famed for talent and endeavour. Ironically it is these very platforms that help to keep Elvis ‘alive’ – he has received over 2.8 billion combined views across YouTube and has averaged over 4.4 million views a day over the past week.

This provides a great example of synergy, a clear understanding of the valuable product Elvis and the delivery channels used to maximise exposure and return in the highly successful posthumous music business (ok I know there are many who believe he’s still alive!).
 
We are now essentially a service sector economy where the service experience should be firmly recognised as the prime product rather than add on. But often customers are engaged in endless conversations across multiple channels trying to sort out a simple enquiry, as resolution ebbs away. It seems that an obsession about the number of communication channels simultaneously on offer can supersede the importance of the actual quality of content delivered overall. A failure to understand that the service experience IS the product leads to flawed thinking about its importance.
 
That’s why many organisations are trying to make sense of how it all comes together; what’s the balance required between machine and automation and intervention from skilled operators? Regardless of what the tipping point is for each individual business, what we can be assured as a definite is the requirement of a talented workforce committed and enabled to offer the best experience possible to customers. That talent will be a long-term fixture regardless of trends that come and go, social channels that rise and fall so investment is necessary both for colleague engagement and meeting customer demands.

We’re delighted to be rolling out a new programme for talented front-line advisors and managers at our forthcoming Convention on 16 November. Kicking off with Leon Smith, captain of Great Britain’s winning Davis Cup team, we can be confident this programme will get us match ready to build the high performing teams we need to keep the conversations going. For more information click here.