I know what you’re thinking. Do we really need another customer service book? Before you respond, consider your last customer service experience at a supermarket, restaurant, post office, car dealership, or airport. How did it go?
If research by the ACSI, J.D. Power and Associates, Bain & Company, and Echo Research is any indication, U.S. consumers are unimpressed with the quality of customer service they typically receive. I too am tired of tolerating mediocre customer service as if exceptional customer service is somehow unattainable or simply limited to an exclusive set of companies like Nordstrom, Disney, and Zappos.
After working in the hospitality industry for more than 20 years, I spent much of 2012 writing Delight Your Customers. Certainly there are many books available on the subject, so it’s fair to question what makes this book different from any other book on customer service that you’ve read (or ignored) lately. Unlike many books in the genre that contain the obligatory story about the surly flight attendant or the inattentive waiter followed by a 5-step process that conveniently spells S.M.I.L.E. (or similar), Delight Your Customers opens with an important distinction that will forever change the way employees (both hourly-paid and management) view their job roles.
By demystifying its root cause, Part One of the book reveals the source of lackluster (or worse) customer service quality and identifies three truths common to exceptional customer service. Part Two presents seven behaviors (not steps) that, when demonstrated by employees, distinguish extraordinary customer service from the ordinary, transactional variety to which you and I (and, evidently, most consumer research respondents) have grown accustomed. (Sorry, there are no contrived acronyms.) Part Three provides guidance on ways leadership can shape a work environment that fosters superior customer service by design rather than by chance.
Illustrated with real-world stories and more than 200 examples from a variety of industries, Delight Your Customers is a resource that will help readers take their customer service from ordinary to extraordinary!
Don’t settle for ordinary. Choose extraordinary. (It’s always a choice.) Take a minute now to reserve your copy: Delight Your Customers: 7 Simple Ways to Raise Your Customer Service from Ordinary to Extraordinary (AMACOM Books, June 11, 2013). Thank you!