Customer experience is one of the main vectors 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, specialist in customer-centric organizational culture and CEO of Grupo Inove, an organization that has worked with more than 100 companies in Brazil and abroad.
“As long as customer service is isolated from strategic planning, it will continue to put out fires instead of generating value. Customer service is the living culture of the company, where the customer sees, 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 area and not a value area. This number contrasts with data from the consultancy PwC, indicating that 73% of Brazilian consumers have already abandoned a brand after bad experiences with customer service. “The math doesn’t add up. It is 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 the organizational culture. He argues that companies with a clear culture, experienced internally, have a greater capacity to deliver consistent experiences, and it starts with the relationship teams.
“The behavior of those who serve says more about the company than any institutional campaign. It is there that the true values of the organization are revealed,” he says. According to João, it is possible to identify clear symptoms of misalignment between culture and service, such as high turnover, lack of autonomy for service agents, and absence of experience-related indicators.
A 2024 study by McKinsey & Company corroborates this view. The consultancy showed that companies that integrate the customer journey with internal culture can increase satisfaction rates by up to 20% and reduce conflicts in service by 35%. In Brazil, according to data from Hibou Market Monitoring, 68% of consumers say they have been poorly served by employees who were clearly unprepared or unmotivated.
Restructuring service to grow
At the helm of Grupo Inove for over a decade, João Paulo implements personalized 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 focusing on active listening.
“Before improving the script, it is necessary to listen to those on the front lines. Many CEOs want efficiency without listening to those who deal with the customer every day,” he says.
The executive believes that the way forward is to integrate service into management decisions. “Service is not just a channel for complaints. It is also a source of insights, innovation, and real market perception,” he summarizes.
Warning Signs
Ribeiro lists five signs that service is disconnected from the company’s culture:
- Above-average turnover of the sector;
- Lack of clarity of purpose among attendants;
- Low first contact resolution (FCR) rate;
- Disalignment between brand messaging and service practice;
- Absence of experience indicators, such as NPS or CSAT.
Companies facing at least three of these signs, according to the expert, have an urgent challenge of strategic repositioning in the area.
