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In today’s fast-paced digital world, more and more products and services are offered strictly by self-service. Even convenience stores are moving to self-checkout-only, creating completely unstaffed stores. With this shift, it’s essential to recognize both the benefits and the drawbacks of doing business with customer service-based businesses and self-service businesses.
Purchasing promotional products has typically been an interaction between the purchaser and the distributor. This open dialogue and back-and-forth nature greatly benefit larger organizations that are planning larger-scale events and campaigns but may be a drawback for small businesses. Small businesses typically see a smaller number of employees wearing a greater number of hats. For small businesses, a longer process may hinder their primary objective of running their business. These customers may prefer a less personal, self-service option.
However, the self-service model has a few significant drawbacks. The first is the need for more expertise. These models strip away the need for employee intervention in the effort of quicker processing. Unfortunately, limiting human oversight can lead to unexpected outcomes like missed deadlines and inaccurate decoration. The time spent selecting and purchasing your products may have been cut in half, but the headache of a poor outcome created an even larger problem.
On the flip side, the benefits of working with an actual human can bring a big sigh of relief (mainly if you’ve ever dealt with a never-ending loop of robots while trying to ask a straightforward question about a service you’re using). We can tailor an experience to an exact set of needs to ensure the workflow is efficient for both parties. This allows us to cater to super hands-on clients and clients who want to be involved on a lesser scale. The human element will ensure a proper solution is offered and that all details are complete and accurate before moving forward. This drastically cuts down on issues but at the cost of time.
The most obvious solution would be a hybrid approach: Self-service, where it makes sense, and human interaction everywhere else. You can allow self-service purchasing with a human follow-up only to confirm details and full-fledged sourcing and planning assistance. Flirting with this line will be where the most success will be found. Each interaction can be tailored to the level of collaboration the customer wants without creating too much tension on either side. Allowing flexibility will set you apart from the thousands of other solutions that can be found with a simple Google search. That is…until AI figures this out and puts both sides out of a job.
