Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit
, by Inghilleri, Leonardo
- ISBN: 9780814415382 | 0814415385
- Cover: Hardcover
- Copyright: 4/7/2010
"This smart primer on customer service strategy is a must-read for managers and anyone interested in transforming their interactions with clients. "Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit" is a manual for winning customer loyalty that actually inspires."-- Daniel H. Pink, author of "A Whole New Mind."
LEONARDO INGHILLERI (Roswell, GA) is Executive Vice President and Managing Partner of West Paces Consulting. A recognized expert on service, Inghilleri created The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center and Learning Institute and has played an instrumental role at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, BVLGARI, and The Walt Disney Company.
MICAH SOLOMON (Philadelphia, PA) is Founder and President of Oasis Disc Manufacturing, a leader in the entertainment and technology industries. A sought-after business advisor and speaker, his techniques and achievements have been featured in Success magazine, Seth Godin’s bestseller Purple Cow, and other publications.
| Special Features | p. xi |
| Acknowledgments | p. xiii |
| Foreword | p. xv |
| Introduction: The Only Shop in the Marketplace | p. 1 |
| The Engineer on the Ladder: Reaching for the Highest Level of Service | p. 4 |
| Function Versus Purpose | p. 5 |
| First Steps First | p. 6 |
| The Four Elements of Customer Satisfaction: Perfect Product, Caring Delivery, Timeliness, and an Effective Problem Resolution Process | p. 7 |
| A Perfect Product | p. 8 |
| Delivered by Caring People | p. 9 |
| In a Timely Fashion | p. 11 |
| With the Support of an Effective Problem Resolution Process | p. 12 |
| Language Engineering: Every. Word. Counts. | p. 14 |
| Establish a Consistent Style of Speech | p. 15 |
| Create a Lexicon of Preferred Language and Phrasing | p. 15 |
| Choose Language to Put Customers at Ease, Not to Dominate Them | p. 17 |
| Concentrate Your Language Efforts on the Key Customer Moments: Hellos, Good-Byes, and the Times When Things Fall Apart | p. 18 |
| Shut Up Sometimes: The Artie Bucco Principle | p. 20 |
| Words Have Their Limits | p. 20 |
| Show, Don't Tell (And Don't Ever Just Point) | p. 21 |
| Phone and Internet Language and Communication Pointers | p. 21 |
| Recovery! Turning Service Failures Around | p. 26 |
| The Italian Mama Method | p. 26 |
| The Four Steps to Great Service Recoveries | p. 27 |
| The Elements of Follow-Up | p. 32 |
| Use Your Own Experience to Prepare You | p. 36 |
| Who Should Handle Customer Complaints? | p. 39 |
| Subtle is Beautiful: Service Recovery Below the Radar | p. 41 |
| Write-Offs Lead to Write-Offs | p. 43 |
| Keeping Track to Bring Them Back: Tracking Customer Roles, Goals, and Preferences | p. 45 |
| Principles of Noting and Sharing | p. 46 |
| Keep Your Systems Simple | p. 46 |
| If It's Important to Your Customer, It Belongs in Your System | p. 48 |
| The Information You Gather Needs to be Available in Real Time | p. 51 |
| Preferences Change; Assumptions are Tricky | p. 52 |
| Moods Change: Track Them | p. 53 |
| Don't Blow It with a Wooden Delivery | p. 53 |
| Using Technology to Ask for Information? It's a Fine Line between Clever and Creepy | p. 54 |
| Surprises Are Hazardous—Online and Off | p. 56 |
| Fear Not: Don't Be Deterred from Collecting Information—Thoughtfully | p. 58 |
| Building Anticipation into Your Products and Services: Putting Processes to Work for You | p. 59 |
| Get Your Company to Think Like a Customer | p. 60 |
| Mr. BIV and the Art of Eliminating Defects | p. 62 |
| Don't Kill Mr. BIV's Messengers | p. 64 |
| Systematically Reducing Waste to Add Value—For You and Your Customers | p. 66 |
| Why Efficient Processes Can Transform Service | p. 68 |
| Stamping Out Waste? Don't Crush Value by Accident | p. 70 |
| Process-Based Anticipation on the Internet | p. 73 |
| Using Tools to Gather Information About Your Customers' Experience | p. 75 |
| Process-Based Solutions Become People Solutions | p. 79 |
| Your People: Selection, Orientation, Training, and Reinforcement | p. 84 |
| We Are Already Our True Selves: Select for Traits | p. 84 |
| Keep the Hiring Bar High | p. 88 |
| Develop Selection Discipline | p. 89 |
| Create a Powerful Orientation Process | p. 90 |
| Use Orientation to Instill New Values, Attitudes, and Beliefs | p. 90 |
| Defining an Employee's Underlying Purpose | p. 91 |
| The Orientation Process Begins Sooner Than You Think | p. 92 |
| On Day One, Nothing Is Tangential | p. 92 |
| Build a Brand Ambassador | p. 93 |
| Training Employees to Anticipate—Carefully | p. 94 |
| Reinforcement: The Daily Check-In | p. 98 |
| Leadership: Guiding the Customer-Centered Organization | p. 101 |
| Service Leaders Matter Because People Power Service | p. 101 |
| Five Characteristics of Great Service Leaders | p. 103 |
| Moral Leadership | p. 105 |
| What's Worth it, and What's Not? Pointers on Value, Costs, and Pricing | p. 108 |
| What Does Loyalty-Enhancing Service Really Cost? | p. 108 |
| Gilding the Lily | p. 110 |
| "Compared to What?": Value Is Relative | p. 111 |
| Pricing Is Part of Your Value Proposition | p. 112 |
| Don't Charge a Customer for Performing the Heimlich | p. 113 |
| Money Isn't Everything, But Money Issues Matter—Especially How You Present Them | p. 114 |
| Building Customer Loyalty Online: Using the Internet's Power to Serve Your Customers and Your Goals | p. 115 |
| The Internet's Double Edge | p. 115 |
| Opinions: Everybody Has One. Evangelists: Every Company Needs Them | p. 118 |
| The Internet Can Promote Commoditization. Avoid This Through Individualization | p. 119 |
| Long Copy/Short Copy | p. 119 |
| Online, the Window in Which to Show You're Extraordinary Can Be Small | p. 120 |
| Amazon.com: A Brilliant Company, but Not the Most Realistic Model to Emulate | p. 125 |
| First Time Online: A Nuts-and-Bolts Case Study | p. 127 |
| Hello/Good-Bye: Two Crucial Moments with a Customer | p. 131 |
| Timelessly Time-Sensitive | p. 132 |
| Don't Rush Your Hellos and Good-Byes on the Telephone | p. 135 |
| Serving Disabled Customers Is a Responsibility and an Opportunity, from the Moment You Welcome Them at Your Door | p. 135 |
| Turn Your Receptionist into a Predator (Who Kills with Kindness) | p. 138 |
| It's Google—Not You—Who Decides Where Visitors Enter Your Site. Be Sure They're Greeted Properly Anyway | p. 139 |
| Taking Control of Good-Byes | p. 141 |
| The Hazards of Subcontracting Your Hellos and Good-Byes | p. 142 |
| Good-Bye for Now from the Authors—With Resources and Assistance for Your Journey | p. 144 |
| Appendixes | p. 145 |
| Oasis Disc Manufacturing: Customer and Phone Interaction Guidelines and Lexicon Excerpts | p. 147 |
| CARQUEST Standards of Service Excellence | p. 153 |
| Capella Hotels and Resorts "Canon Card": Service Standards and Operating Philosophy | p. 155 |
| Notes | p. 159 |
| Index | p. 163 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
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