Legendary Service: The Key is to Care

Book excerpt: Take Care of Your Customers--or Someone Else Will! Legendary Service Great customer service is a concept organizations love to be known for. Yet most people consider the service they receive to be average, at best. Successful companies make the connection between legendary customer service and a thriving business--they recognize that the way employees treat customers is directly related to the way managers treat employees. Kelsey Young is an optimistic but disillusioned sales associate working her way through college. Her world opens up when one of her professors challenges her to create a culture of service at her workplace by putting the five components of Legendary Service into practice. Although Ferguson's, the store where Kelsey works, certainly isn't known for service excellence, Kelsey believes she can make a positive difference. She quickly learns that culture change isn't easy--and that her role as a frontline employee is more significant than she ever could have imagined. In characteristic Blanchard style, Legendary Service: The Key Is to Care is a quick and entertaining read for people at all organizational levels in every industry. When applied, its lessons will have a profound impact on the service experience your customers will receive. Whether a CEO or a part-time employee, every person can make a difference--and customer service is everyone's job. PRAISE FOR LEGENDARY SERVICE: "Read this book and establish a service culture in your organization." -- Horst Schulze, Chairman/CEO, Capella Hotel Group "Legendary Service has great learnings for people at all organizational levels: for executives and managers, the value of a service culture; and for frontline staff, the reality that they are the face of the company and can make a difference. Legendary service--it's everyone, always." -- Mark King, CEO and President, TaylorMade Golf "Everything I know about service I learned from my career at Hilton Hotels, Marriott International, The Walt Disney Company, and Ken Blanchard. The One Minute Manager dramatically changed my thinking 32 years ago. Legendary Service will teach the next generation how to deliver sensational service. Buy it, study it, implement it." -- Lee Cockerell, Executive Vice President, Walt Disney World (Retired & Inspired), and author of Creating Magic and The Customer Rules "Kathy Cuff and Vicki Halsey have created a fantastic customer service model called ICARE. When you add their voices to that of the master storyteller Ken Blanchard, you have a masterpiece entitled Legendary Service. It is a must-read for everyone who, like me, has a passion for service." -- Colleen Barrett, President Emeritus, Southwest Airlines, and coauthor of Lead with LUV "Ken Blanchard has done it again and delivered the right book at the right time. Legendary Service provides the essentials of hospitality and servant leadership in a way that everyone can adopt--right now--today!" -- John Caparella, President and COO, The Venetian, The Palazzo, and Sands Expo "Ken, Kathy, and Vicki show us how to change everyday service events into memorable experiences. Their book is a must-read for anyone unwilling to accept mediocrity." -- Leonardo Inghilleri, coauthor of Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit