It's been said that a top-notch customer service experience is the key to not only getting new customers, but keeping the old ones. J.D. Power and Associates has recently designated Cadillac as a 2012 Customer Service Champion.

J.D. Power and Associates' Customer Service Champion program takes the opinions of consumers, as relates to 800 different brands across 20 industries, focusing on five key areas: People, Price, Process, Presentation, and finally, Product. It then distilled those customer opinions in those five key metrics down into just 50 brands that were worthy of J.D. Power and Associates' Customer Service Champion ranking. Of the 50 brands that made it into the rankings, only four car brands managed to earn the designation.

Cadillac has earned the designation two years running, thanks to what they describe as a customer-centered approach, using its customer base to affect design processes. Cadillac's XTS sedan, for instance, draws heavily on customer research to provide features like ample trunk space and high-end communications systems and media services. Cadillac also leans toward providing extra face time to customers at the dealership level, a tactic in increasingly short supply with the advent of online shopping, where the potential customer has no face time at all with a vendor.

An old marketing adage declares that customers will tell, on average, ten people about every bad experience they have while far fewer will be told about a good experience. While this adage is often debated by most who hear it, including some who like to introduce the modifier effect social media introduces, the key point is that the customer experience is still a primary driver of a business' fortunes, no matter what size it is.

A designation like J.D. Power and Associates' Customer Service Champion is an important one to have, and visible proof that an organization like Cadillac is doing all it can to ensure the best experience for customers possible.