Getting Service Right

Book excerpt: Are you endlessly trying to improve your employees' customer service skills, but getting so-so results? There may be a culprit that you've never considered.Rather than offering another set of customer service tips, Getting Service Right takes a novel approach by rooting out the real reasons employees don't consistently deliver the service they should. The results can be both surprising and illuminating, such as: Company cultures that unwittingly discourage excellent customer service.Employees torn between following policy or serving the customer.Cost reduction efforts that actually increase the cost of service.Poor products and services that make it impossible to satisfy customers.Bad habits that make it difficult to listen to customers' needs.Getting Service Right is filled with examples from well-known organizations, real stories from frontline employees, and the latest scientific research. These powerful, sometimes counterintuitive insights can be applied at the organizational, departmental, or individual level to help the entire team deliver outstanding customer service.Note: the first edition of this book was published under the title, Service Failure: The Real Reasons Employees Struggle with Customer Service and What You Can Do About I