Customer experience is one of the main drivers of loyalty and brand reputation. Companies that still treat customer service as an operational sector lose competitiveness. This is the assessment of João Paulo Ribeiro, an expert in customer-centric organizational culture and CEO of Grupo Inove, an organization that has worked with over 100 companies in Brazil and abroad.
“As long as customer service remains isolated from strategic planning, it will continue putting out fires instead of generating value. Customer service is the living culture of the company, it’s where customers see, in practice, what was promised by marketing,” says Ribeiro.
According to a survey by FGV Projetos, 62% of medium and large companies in the country still classify customer service as a cost center rather than a value center. This number contrasts with data from PwC consulting, which indicates that 73% of Brazilian consumers have abandoned a brand after poor customer service experiences. “The math doesn’t add up. It’s inconsistent to invest in branding and innovation if the customer contact channel is neglected,” adds the executive.
Customer service as a mirror of culture
For João Paulo, customer service should be the first sector to reflect the values of organizational culture. He argues that companies with a clear culture, lived internally, have greater capacity to deliver consistent experiences, and this starts with relationship teams.
“The behavior of those providing service says more about the company than any institutional campaign. It’s there that the organization’s true values are revealed,” he says. According to João, it’s possible to identify clear symptoms of misalignment between culture and service, such as high turnover, lack of autonomy among service agents, and absence of experience-related metrics.
A 2024 study by McKinsey & Company corroborates this view. The consulting firm showed that companies that integrate customer journey with internal culture can increase satisfaction rates by up to 20% and reduce service conflicts by 35%. In Brazil, according to Hibou Market Monitoring data, 68% of consumers say they’ve been poorly served by employees who were clearly unprepared or unmotivated.
Restructuring customer service to grow
At the helm of Grupo Inove for over a decade, João Paulo implements customized culture and service diagnostics that help companies transform the relationship area into a competitive advantage. The approach includes leadership analysis, team training, and process adjustments focused on active listening.
“Before improving the script, you need to listen to those on the front lines. Many CEOs want efficiency without listening to those who deal with customers every day,” he states.
The executive believes the path lies in integrating customer service with management decisions. “Customer service isn’t just a channel for receiving complaints. It’s also a source of insights, innovation, and real market perception,” he summarizes.
Warning indicators
Ribeiro lists five signs that customer service is disconnected from company culture:
- Above-average turnover in the sector;
- Lack of purpose clarity among service agents;
- Low first-contact resolution rate (FCR);
- Misalignment between brand messaging and service practice;
- Absence of experience metrics, such as NPS or CSAT.
Companies facing at least three of these signs, according to the expert, have an urgent challenge of strategic repositioning of the area.
