Exceptional service, exceptional profit : the secrets of building a five-star customer service organization

9780814415382
0814415385

xvi, 170 pages ; 24 cm

Includes bibliographical references and index

Special features
Acknowledgments
Foreword / Horst Schulze
Introduction: Only shop in the marketplace
1: Engineer On The Ladder: Reaching For The Highest Level Of Service
Function versus purpose
First steps first
2: Four Elements Of Customer Satisfaction: Perfect Product, Caring Delivery, Timeliness, And An Effective Problem Resolution Process
Perfect product
Delivered by caring people
In a timely fashion
With the support of an effective problem resolution process
3: Language Engineering: Every-Word-Counts
Establish a consistent style of speech
Create a Lexicon of preferred language and phrasing
Choose language to put customers at ease, not to dominate them
Concentrate your language efforts on key customer moments: hellos, good-byes, and the times when things fall apart
Shut up sometimes: the Artie Bucco Principle
Words have their limits
Show, don't tell (and don't ever just point)
Phone and Internet language and communication pointers
4: Recovery! Turning Service Failures Around
Italian mama method
Four steps to great service recoveries
Elements of follow-up
Use your own experience to prepare you
Who should handle customer complaints?
Subtle is beautiful: service recovery below the radar
Write-offs lead to write-offs
5: Keeping Track To Bring Them Back: Tracking Customer Roles, Goals, And Preferences
Principles of noting and sharing
Principle 1: Keep your systems simple
Principle 2: If it's important to your customer, it belongs in your system
Principle 3: Information you gather needs to be available in real time
Principle 4: Preferences change; assumptions are tricky
Principle 5: Moods change: track them
Principle 6: Don't blow it with a wooden delivery
Principle 7: Using technology to ask for information? It's a fine line between clever and creepy
Surprises are hazardous-online and off
Fear not: Don't be deterred from collecting information-thoughtfully
6: Building Anticipation Into Your Products And Services: Putting Processes To Work For You
Get your company to think like a customer
Mr BIV and the art of eliminating defects
Don't kill Mr BIV's messengers
Systematically reducing waste to add value-for you and your customers
Why efficient processes can transform service
Stamping out waste? Don't crush value by accident
Process-based anticipation on the Internet
Using tools to gather information about your customers' experience
Process-based solutions become people solutions
7: Your People: Selection, Orientation, Training, And Reinforcement
We are already our true selves: select for traits
Keep the hiring bar high
Develop selection discipline
Create a powerful orientation process
Use orientation to instill new values, attitudes, and beliefs
Defining an employee's underlying purpose
Orientation process begins sooner than you think
On day one, nothing is tangential
Build a brand ambassador
Training employees to anticipate-carefully
Reinforcement: the daily check-in
8: Leadership: Guiding The Customer-Centered Organization
Service leaders matter because people power service
Five characteristics of great service leaders
Moral leadership
9: What's Worth It, And What's Not? Pointers On Value, Costs, And Pricing
What does loyalty-enhancing service really cost?
Gilding the lily
Compared to what?: value is relative
Pricing is part of your value proposition
Don't charge a customer for performing the Heimlich
Money isn't everything, but money issues matter-especially how you present them
10: Building Customer Loyalty Online: Using The Internet's Power To Serve Your Customers And Your Goals
Internet's double edge
Opinions: everybody has one; Evangelists: every company needs them
Internet can promote commoditization; avoid this through individualization
Long copy/short copy
Online, the window in which to show you're extraordinary can be small
Amazon_com: a brilliant company, but not the most realistic model to emulate
First time online: a nuts-and bolts case study
11: Hello/Good-Bye: Two Crucial Moments With A Customer
Timelessly time-sensitive
Don't rush your hellos and good-byes on the telephone
Serving disabled customers is a responsibility and an opportunity, from the moment you welcome them at your door
Turn your receptionist into a predator (who kills with kindness)
It's Google-not you-who decides where visitors enter your site-be sure they're greeted properly anyway
Taking control of good-byes
Hazards of subcontracting your hellos and good-byes
Good-bye for now from the authors-with resources and assistance for your journey
Appendixes
Appendix A: Oasis disc manufacturing: customer and phone interaction guidelines and Lexicon excerpts
Appendix B: Carquest standards of service excellence
Appendix C: Capella Hotels and Resorts "Canon Card": service standards and operating philosophy
Notes
Index

2009031674

1042489

Schulze, Horst
Solomon, Micah