In this book, authors Chip R.
Bell and John R.
Patterson examine customer service through essentially the perspective of these three words: create, lead and sustain.
This book is divided into 3 separate sections:
- Create
- Lead
- Sustain
Before jumping into each of the 3 separate sections, the authors make a case for customer loyalty.
With some strong facts supporting their premise, the authors liken an organization to a "living, spirited organism.
" From this analogy, further discussion evolves around the spirit residing within each enterprise and how that can be summed up by Sam Walton in his famous quote: "There is only one boss.
The customer.
And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.
" In the first section, the authors investigate all the creators of remarkable service.
They identify 7 distinct roles from the "joy carrier" to the giver.
Section two explores the actions necessary to lead to loyal customers.
Each chapter begins with a verb such as connect, partner, mentor, align, liberate, inspire and champion.
Finally in section three, the authors recognize that to sustain remarkable customer service requires looking beyond the words and putting a plan together.
This plan begins with harnessing the intelligence of the employees and ends with unearthing and nurturing talent.
The conclusion of this book is very succinct and sums up the essence of customer loyalty guaranteed by this statement: Treat customers as a neighbor; not as a consumer.
Within this book are some very practical ideas that any organization from the one person single office home office to the thousand plus enterprise can quickly implement.
The bibliography has some additional great resources and there is a quick index for those readers who are seeking specific knowledge respective to one key area.