[bcx]

I agree.

If you are selling ANY product, customer experience is part of what you are selling. Apple gets this better than practically anyone else.

BUT, as a small business owner you are forced to make decisions about where to allocate your limited resources. In your case (and in mine) customer service likely created word of mouth referrals, retained customers, and future expansion opportunities.

I guarantee you that there are many businesses where folks somehow think customer service is merely a cost center to be eliminated. For the folks who are already in that boat, AI arguably will likely be better than their outsourced callcenters.

When will they swing back to seeing the bigger picture, and realize their business is only as valuable as the customer relationships they build?