Aug 122012
Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit: The Secrets of Building a Five-Star Customer Service Organization
“Filled with treasure and big ideas, this book will help you become exceptional.” – SETH GODIN
In a tight market, your most powerful growth engine and your best protection from competitive inroads is this: put every thing you can into cultivating true customer loyalty. Loyal customers are less sensitive to price competition, more forgiving of small glitches, and, ultimately, become “walking billboards” who will happily promote your brand. In Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit insider
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This book got me quickly thinking about how to make customers more loyal – the key provide anticipatory service!,
When I saw EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE, EXCEPTIONAL PROFIT (AMACOM) by Leonardo Inghilleri and Micah Solomon, I thought to myself, “Oh, no, still another book on customer service.” Even the subtitle. THE SECRETS OF BUILDING A FIVE-STAR CUSTOMER SERVICE ORGANIZATION, indicated that might be the case.
But was I ever wrong! The authors immediately got me interested in finding out more through their use of success stories from such companies as The Ritz-Carlton and Lexus, as well as how the principles were applied by such online firms as Netflix and CD Baby.
In addition, they quickly got me thinking about how to make customers more loyal–with one key way being the need to provide anticipatory service vs. merely reacting to customers.
Some of their examples, though seemingly basic, blew me away–such as this one:
*To help launch their Ritz-Carlton luxury hotel brand, initially, founding President and Chief Operating Officer Horst Schulze and his team decided on a set of ideal phrases for use in conversation with customers, then trained employees to use those phrases. The frequent use of certain phrases helped unify their employees around a shared identity and contributed to a distinctive “Ritz style” that the public could easily recognize: phrases like “my pleasure,” “Right away,” “Certainly,” and -a personal favorite-”We’re fully committed tonight.” (Translation: “We’re booked solid, bub!” The list of words and phrases to be avoided included folks, hey, you guys, and okay.
I also loved this technique for how to preemptively unwad your staff’s shorts:
* When your own employees first hear you taking the customer’s side, don’t expect them to be thrilled. (“Does my boss blame me? Does she actually believe that idiot’s version of what happened?”) You need to explain that it’s often necessary to empathize with and even amplify the customer’s side of the story. Explain that the customer may or may not be right in an objective sense. Regardless, you’re going to be disproportionately sympathetic to the customer’s viewpoint because the customer is your boss-the customer pays your paycheck, along with the paychecks of everyone in the company.
Human nature being what it is, this explanation will bear repeating. Often.
Lastly, I often wonder why more companies don’t utilize this technique:
* Even in a mundane situation, this simple understanding, starting from day one, can make all the difference. Have you ever been to a shopping mall and stared, obviously bewildered at the map-while a security guard idly stands there “protecting” you, all of two feet away? Did the security guard proactively help you out with an “Anything I can help you find?” If he worked for us, he would have. At orientation, we would have started him off understanding his higher purpose: to create a great shopping experience for guests. Sure, that could include deterring and apprehending bad guys, but it also includes attending to shoppers who have that unmistakable lost look on their faces.
Even as I type the above, I realize that EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE, EXCEPTIONAL PROFIT is a book that I’m going to want to revisit. If you read it, you’ll become as convinced as I am that Ingehilleri and Solomon have ideas that can be applied to virtually any company or organization–including yours.
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|How to manual for providing exceptional service,
Customer Video Review Length:: 2:16 Mins
April Book Review from SBC Fulfillment Blog: [...]
Background: I added this book to my Amazon wish list, which in turn posts to my FriendFeed account. Micah Solomon found my post on Friend Feed and sent me an advance (signed) copy, pretty “exceptional service.” Micah is the small business guy who founded Oasis Disc Manufacturing. Leonardo is best known for his work with the Ritz Carlton.
Main Points: The main points I took away from the book can be summed up in language, anticipation, and tracking.
Language: The need to be intentional about the language you and your employees use. This includes words to use, not use, and words that are “banned.”
Anticipate: Exceptional customer service comes from anticipating your customer’s needs. Anyone can hand a towel to a customer who asks for one, but an “exceptional company” hands you one before you have the chance to ask.
Measure: You NEED a system to track your customers likes and dislikes. Additionally, you can track top problem for continuous improvement programs.
Take Away: Your customer service program must be intentional and must incorporate training that constantly reinforces your program.
Conclusion: Great advice from some world class companies. The pages contain golden nuggets for companies big and small (like mine). My only criticism is I would like to see more case studies. Overall this book is a must read. Highly recommended.
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|Answers so many questions people in business need. A true must-read.,
EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE EXCEPTIONAL PROFIT is a book for anyone in business. I know that sounds too all-encompassing, but this book is a great read because of its simplicity, practical suggestions and applicable examples. It will be a wonderful resource for anyone who is either starting their business, or wants to improve customer loyalty.
As someone who has worked at four- and five-diamond hotels for over 22 years–including a significant portion of that time in guest relations/customer service and as Director of Training, I am well aware of the importance of excellent customer service. Yet, even with this point of reference I gained extensive useful information from this book which offers simple, insightful and practical advice on how to enhance customer service, and help build and strengthen customer loyalty.
In this current era of IM-ing and texting, chapter three about Language engineering really resonated with me. It outlined how simple use of the “right” words can help change the tone and perception of messages sent–by creating verbiage that is positive and helpful.
This is especially valuable to me with my new business that has an online presence. I will probably never meet most of my customers in person, so I especially enjoyed the practical advice in chapter 10 about building customer loyalty online.
This book also expands on other great concepts that contribute to customer loyalty like chapter six–about building anticipation into products and services—which is especially useful in a new business.
I don’t normally provide reviews and online feedback. In fact, this is my first. But I gained some valuable gems about how to make service exceptional, and I strongly feel I would recommend this book to anyone who is willing to listen—and is open to learning simple ways to provide exceptional service and build stronger customer loyalty.
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