Uncommon Service


Book Description

Offers an organizational design model for service organizations, covering such topics as funding mechanisms, employee management systems, and customer management systems.




Practical Handbook of CUSTOMER SERVICE OPERATIONS


Book Description

Even the most casual reader leafing through the pages of this book will quickly realize that it is not the thoughts of one indi vidual set down on paper, but rather the synergism of many people. Herbert Goeler of American Cyanamid and Keith Slater of Johns-Manville, the latter now retired, are certainly the brightest stars in my particular customer service galaxy. They have been well-springs of information, thinkers and thought starters, friends and fellow-believers, for almost two decades. Without the encouragement and inspiration they gave me, this book would be much shorter and far less relevant. In 1984, my firm presented Herb and Keith with our special "Patron Saint" Award; it doesn't say nearly enough for what they have meant to me personally and, through me, to the field of customer service management where I disseminate ideas and guidance as an editor and teacher. Some years ago, the American Management Associations asked me to chair a series of seminars on Customer Service Management in the U. S. and Canada. Through this activity I met many wonderful people who in many cases taught me more than I taught them.




Powerful Phrases for Effective Customer Service


Book Description

Let's face it, dealing with customers isn't easy. They aren't always right--or even pleasant. But experienced business author Renée Evenson ensures you always have the right words to defuse tense interactions. In Powerful Phrases for Effective Customer Service, she covers thirty challenging customer behaviors and twenty common employee-caused negative encounters to teach readers how to assess circumstances, choose one of many appropriate responses, and confidently and consistently deliver customer satisfaction. Helpful sample scenarios and tangible instructions bring the phrases to life, while detailed explanations bolster your confidence so that you'll have the right words as tools at your disposal and the skills to take action and deliver those words effectively. Practical and insightful, Powerful Phrases for Effective Customer Service ensures you'll never again be at a loss for what to say to customers. By incorporating language that communicates welcome, courtesy, rapport, enthusiasm, assurance, regret, empathy, and appreciation, you'll not only be capable of overcoming obstacles--you'll strengthen all facets of your customer service.




Delight Your Customers


Book Description

Discover the hidden ways to raise your organizations’ customer service experiences from ordinary to extraordinary. If you want to know how strong your company’s customer service is, ask your employees to describe what their work entails. Then pay attention to whether they simply list their duties and tasks or if they speak to the true essence of their job--to create delighted customers who will be less price sensitive, have higher repurchase rates, and enthusiastically recommend the company or brand to others. The latter should be every employee’s highest priority, because when it’s not, your customers are merely the recipients of a transaction, not an experience, and transactions do not make for a lasting impression or inspire loyalty. In Delight Your Customers, customer service expert Steve Curtin makes a compelling case that customer service managers need to shift from monitoring service activities to modeling, recognizing, and reinforcing the behaviors that create happy and returning customers. Things such as: Expressing genuine interest Offering sincere compliments Sharing unique knowledge Conveying authentic enthusiasm Providing pleasant surprises Delivering service heroics when needed Simply based on their own personal experiences, everyone knows that great customer service is rare. So why wouldn’t you want to provide a unique, caring, and beneficial experience for all your customers to rave about with others? With the real-world stories, examples, and strategies shared in Delight Your Customers, you can take the customer service experience you offer from ordinary to extraordinary.




The Fred Factor


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The true story of an ordinary mail carrier whose approach to work and life has the power to transform the everyday into the extraordinary—now in an updated twentieth-anniversary edition “This beloved business classic has inspired millions of people over the years, and today Mark Sanborn’s transformative insights are more timely and necessary than ever.”—Jon Gordon, author of The Energy Bus and co-author of The Coffee Bean Meet Fred. In this timeless and powerful book, Mark Sanborn, member of the Speaker Hall of Fame, recounts the true story of Fred, an ordinary USPS carrier who introduced himself one day shortly after Sanborn had moved to a new home in Denver. Fred, however, was no average mailman. As Sanborn came to discover, Fred was the kind of worker who exemplifies everything “right” with customer service. Did people want packages left on the porch or prefer a notice to pick them up at the post office? Fred made sure he knew the answer. When another delivery service left a package at the wrong house, Fred shepherded it safely to the intended recipient. Others might have seen delivering mail as routine work, but Fred seized the chance to find meaning in the mundane, competing with himself every day to find opportunities to make his customers smile. We’ve all encountered people like Fred. In this deeply inspiring book, Sanborn illuminates the four basic principles anyone can use to bring fresh energy and creativity to our work and life: how to make a tangible difference every day, build stronger relationships, create real value for others without spending a penny, and constantly reinvent yourself. In this updated edition, Sanborn speaks to the seismic changes that have transformed the world of work in recent years—with employees increasingly hungry for purpose in their jobs—and outlines the book’s fresh applications. By following his principles, you, too, can find more excitement, fulfillment, and success in your career—and in your life.




Selling in Customer Service


Book Description

"Service" in this book refers to the behaviors and actions of serving customers. "Selling" in this book refers to the behaviors and actions of selling products to customers. Hence, this book is completely different from other books on these subjects—Despite the fact that there are many books on service improvement and many related to selling skills worldwide, there are few books on how service and selling are integrated and coordinated. Primarily, it focuses on the interaction and transition between "the behavior of service" and "the behavior of selling" by sharing methods and skills of how those two are interrelated. This book provides many helpful guidelines and solutions for turning customers’ satisfaction with service into growth in sales. Through many refreshing ideas, the author helps you deeply understand the significance of integration of and conversion between service and selling and the harm of disconnection between service and selling. Many new ideas and viewpoints, which are different from other service books or sales books, are discussed, such as the contention that "over-service and over-selling should be prevented." Instead of: Giving highly complex and abstract definitions of "service" or "selling," this book redefines service and selling with "say YES to customers" and "Make customers say YES" respectively. Insisting that customers’ satisfaction with service will naturally lead to their long-term loyalty, this book emphasizes that customers' satisfaction with service has a shelf lifetime, which will soon fade over time. Taking the achievement of customer satisfaction as the final purpose of service, the author believes that "the end of service is not customer satisfaction, but to create new customer needs and achieve increased sales." Taking "meeting or exceeding customer expectations" as the golden rule, the author insists that "customer expectations need to be reduced first, then satisfied, and upgraded finally." Focusing on the development of customers’ buying needs like other books do, this book focuses oppositely on the research of "why customers have no buying needs."




THE 4 DIMENSIONS OF TOTAL CUSTOMER SERVICE


Book Description

This book is about 'Total Customer Service' .It applies to all types of organisations large and small, private or public .It considers the ongoing changing context and circumstances such as technology, social media and remote buying which influence the relationship between the selling organisation and the buying customer .It introduces 'The Customer Service Hallmark', a unique Customer Service Quality Standard and guiding implementation and benchmarking framework. It takes Customer Service beyond 'Have a Nice Day 'and the obvious 'Surface' approaches to Customer Service. It positions Customer Service as having its roots in the cultural heart of the organisation. The book adopts a holistic view of organisations incorporating Organisation Development approaches to managing improvement interventions .It positions 'Total Customer Service' within and across all organisation functions and boundaries and includes a proactive stance to managing external environmental influences .The book provides reflective reading plus new and refreshed ideas, tools and models. The interesting presentation of the book takes the reader through the development of a practical methodology which guides, improves, sustains and maximises the provision of 'Total Customer Service' and organisation improvement. Anyone who has an interest in 'Total Customer Service' and organisation performance improvement will find this book valuable and enjoyable. 'Vision to Action', 'Sub System Synergy', 'Hilltops', 'ERUDITE Leadership, ' 'Futuristic Thinking', 'Competitive Integrity ' and 'Triple E' touch point management all contribute to Customer Service' and are some of the innovative concepts included in this book. The book brings together organisational capacity and capability and reflects a synergistic approach which promotes cross functional cooperation and harmony .The 'Four Dimensions' of the Customer Service Hallmark provide an integrated framework which positions 'Total Customer Service' as a coordinated strategic response to achieving organisation improvement and strategic intent.




Delivering Effective Social Customer Service


Book Description

Social Customer Service is new. Social Media is the biggest thing happening to the customer service industry since the mid 1960s when modern day call centres were born. It is taking customers and organisations into untested ways of relating: transparently, collaboratively, instantly. The consequences of great and poor service are forever changed. Customer appetite has promoted this form of interaction to the very front of a race to understand. How do digital brands and empowered customers actually behave? Social Customer Service has become Marketing’s R&D lab and a listening hub for the rest of the organisation. It is now where corporate reputations are most likely to be won and lost. ‘Delivering Effective Social Customer Service’ is a complete reference for achieving excellence in this new discipline. It caters to both novice and expert. It is perfect source material for service leaders and digital marketers to read together. Every CXO will recognise in the book a blueprint from which to build their next generation organisation. Even ambitious team leaders should snag a copy for instant subject matter expertise kudos! The centre of the book offers an in depth self-assessment of the competencies that matter. The book is jammed full of strategic insight, action lists, best practice tips and interviews. All the resources anyone needs to build a solid strategy and roadmap. Early adopter workshops based on the book have already taken place and will continue to be offered as another way of engaging with the book’s key lessons. An online resource of the reference material is also provided. Options for an online community are under consideration. This book is the first of its kind. A distillation of what has so far been collectively discovered. Then filtered and expanded through the collective experience of two leading authorities on customer service: Carolyn Blunt and Martin Hill-Wilson.




Marketing High Technology Services


Book Description

Along the way, Dr Sowter provides detailed guidance on key issues such as identifying your unique selling proposition, setting optimal prices, dealing with competition and ensuring the maximum impact from your promotional literature, proposals and exhibition stands. He proceeds by asking questions, and the answers he supplies are practical and often based on personal experience. The text is supported throughout by illustrations, "real life" examples, checklists and model formats. Each chapter includes exercises and action plans to help readers put the author's ideas to work in their own organizations.




Customer Service Best Practices


Book Description