Discovering the Soul of Service: The Nine Drivers of Sustainable Business Success - Hardcover

Berry, Leonard L.

 
9780684845111: Discovering the Soul of Service: The Nine Drivers of Sustainable Business Success
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0684845113 ISBN 13: 9780684845111
Verlag: Free Press, 1999

Inhaltsangabe

This wise and inspiring book by Leonard Berry, moves far beyond his pioneering work in services marketing and service quality to explain how great service companies meet their toughest challenge: sustaining long-term success.

In a world where customers regard flawless products as a given, service is the key differentiator between competitors in any field.

From Berry's exacting study of fourteen mature, highly successful, labor-intensive companies comes an astonishing revelation: the single most important factor in building a lasting service business is not a matter of savvy business practice, but of humane values. In all fourteen award-winning companies -- Bergstrom Hotels, The Charles Schwab Corporation, Chick-fil-A, The Container Store, Custom Research Inc., Dana Commercial Credit, Dial-A-Mattress, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Midwest Express Airlines, Miller SQA, Special Expeditions, St. Paul Saints, USAA, and Ukrop's Super Markets -- values-driven leadership connects with strategic focus, executional excellence, control of destiny, trust-based relationships, generosity, investment in employee success, acting small, and brand cultivation to drive customer satisfaction, innovation, and growth. Dedicating a chapter to each of these nine drivers, this book is the most far-reaching and insightful vision ever presented of the principles and step-by-step actions that continuously bring success to life in a company.

Berry's comprehensive model reveals the soul that underlies the strategies and day-to-day operations of great service companies, guiding the thousands of daily decisions of individual employees. Clear, compelling, pathbreaking, Discovering the Soul of Service is essential reading for managers everywhere.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Leonard L. Berry holds the JCPenney Chair of Retailing Studies, and is Professor of Marketing and Director of the Center for Retailing Studies, at Texas A&M University. A former national president of the American Marketing Association, he is author of On Great Service and coauthor of Marketing Services and Delivering Quality Service, published by The Free Press. Dr. Berry received the 1996 Career Contributions to Services Marketing Award from the American Marketing Association. He also has twice been recognized with the highest honors Texas A&M bestows on a faculty member: the Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching (in 1990) and the Distinguished Achievement Award in Research (in 1996). He is a board member of CompUSA, Hastings Entertainment, Lowe's Companies, Inc., and the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

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SUSTAINING SUCCESS IN SERVICE COMPANIES
A customer, recovering from knee surgery and walking with a cane, was Christmas shopping. When the customer asked for an item in most stores, the salesperson would point and say disinterestedly, "Over there." However, the customer's experience was different at The Container Store. After determining the product the customer wanted, the salesperson replied, "It's in the back of the store. I'll go get it for you." Before the salesperson returned, two other salespeople cheerfully asked the customer if they could be of service.
Another customer of The Container Store completed her purchase of multiple items and headed for her car, children in tow. She placed her package on the ground as she put the children in the car -- and then drove off forgetting the package. Realizing her mistake just a few minutes later, she returned to the parking lot, but the package was gone. She reentered the store hoping that someone had turned in her package, but no one had. Salesperson James Castleberry remembered the customer and asked her what she had bought. He then proceeded to gather up the products, handed them to the customer without charge, and said: "Your day will get better." And it did, starting at that moment.
Amy Carovillano, vice president of inventory control and distribution at The Container Store, was at the airport waiting for her flight to Houston. She noticed a woman animatedly talking to the airline's gate agents. Considerable head shaking suggested that the woman was not receiving the response she was seeking. She was obviously displeased when she left the counter.
She began looking around as if she were searching for someone. More than 100 people were in the area at the time. Then the woman headed for Amy, passing at least 50 people closer to her. She asked Amy if she were flying to Houston. When Amy replied yes, she asked for a favor. The woman's husband had flown to Houston on an earlier flight but was stranded at the airport's rental car counter. He had left his wallet home and could not rent a car without his driver's license. The woman had come to the airport hoping that one of the airline's crew would carry the wallet to Houston on the next flight. No one was willing to do so, which brought the woman to Amy.
Amy was glad to help but did have one question: Why did the woman single her out? The woman said it was because Amy was wearing a Container Store tee-shirt. She assumed Amy was an employee. The woman added that she was a loyal customer and knew how nice and willing to help all the employees were. Amy met the woman's husband when she deplaned in Houston and handed him his wallet.
The Container Store is one of America's most successful retail chains because it has employees who delight in helping customers solve problems -- and who possess the freedom and confidence to do so. The Container Store sells storage and organization products -- boxes, bottles, jars, trunks, trays, racks, baskets, buckets, hooks, shelving systems, hangers, garment bags, drawer organizers, and much more -- about 12,000 different products. The company is the largest retailer of elfa® storage systems and Skandia shelving systems in the United States, even though, by design, it is not a large chain with only 19 stores at year-end 1997. From its founding in 1978 with two employees, the company has achieved average annual sales growth of 25 percent without incurring debt. Two-thirds of the revenue growth comes from existing stores, one-third from the one or two new stores opened each year. The company's owners, Garrett Boone, Kip Tindell, Sharon Tindell, and John Mullen, all actively involved in running the company today, continually say "no" to suitors wanting to fund rapid expansion through venture capital, franchising, or a public offering. Becoming big was never the dream; creating the perfect retail store in which employees would earnestly, enthusiastically, and creatively work together to serve customers and improve operations and products was always the dream. As Garrett Boone states: "We are a company that understands our business is helping customers. We have a willingness to continually reexamine what we do and ask if we can do it better."
The Container Store has been notably successful in attracting exceptional employees who share the strong customer-focused values of the owners. More than 1,500 employees strong now, The Container Store's values-driven execution of the business is difficult for imitators to match. The company patiently practices its craft of selling excellent boxes excellently. It waits until it finds just the right employee, just the right store location, just the right vendor. Elizabeth Barrett, vice president of operations, admits: "I still have the reputation for holding a store position open for six weeks to look for the right person."
The quest for excellence pays off in human terms as well as financial terms. Employees love working in this company that celebrates excellence, and customers love the experience of shopping in the stores. Once a minister announced from his pulpit that for his birthday his family was taking him to The Container Store. The whole congregation applauded. Messages from a departing part-time employee, a ninth-grade student, and a frantic customer reflect the human dividends contributed by corporate excellence.

Dear Kip:
I am a part-time employee working in the Virginia store. I work full-time for CNN.
When I was hired last June, I wanted to gain knowledge about opening abusiness. What I learned was more important. I learned customer service.Our extensive training was exceptional. The people sent to train us were incredible. Jane Dunnington is one of the best managers I have worked under inmy career! She disseminates information and is fair. Chris Hix and Lori Stuardi have gone out of their way to keep me informed and enthused.
I enjoy the "team atmosphere" at the store and will miss it very much. Otherprojects in television are demanding more of my time. I am forced to resign my part-time position.
I leave with a more demanding attitude about customer service, a better organizer of closets, a contributor to a million dollar sales month, feeling valued and appreciated. If I didn't love television so much I would be tempted to come aboard full-time.
Thank you for creating a positive environment, and I hope to contribute that attitude wherever I go.

Dear Container Store,
In late April I came to your store to purchase some packaging materials. I needed these materials to ship my ninth-grade science project to Tucson, Arizona, where I would be attending the International Science and Engineering Fair in early May. I had been searching in many places for these materials, and finally found them at The Container Store, thanks to an employee named Amy Robertson. As soon as I walked into the store, she found the materials that I needed to pack my oversize project. Amy not only found the materials but spent an additional two hours and helped me pack the project in the store. She brought out tape, scissors, and screwdrivers and finished within hours what would have taken me days. The project arrived in Tucson in beautiful condition. At the Science Fair, I was awarded third place in the world in the category of microbiology. I would like to sincerely thank Amy Robertson and all of The Container Store employees who helped me on Thursday, April 25. My gratitude cannot be expressed.

Dear Container Store,
I am writing to praise Chris Grey, one of your employees. On September 11, 1996, I spent 40 minutes with her on the phone as she "coached me and encouraged me" as I put the metro system together. The following day I came to the store to thank her in person. I was in the middle of a move and frantic. She helped me tremendously. When I met her I cried, I was so grateful to her.
I hope this letter will...

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Verlag
Free Press
Erscheinungsdatum
1999
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0684845113
ISBN 13 
9780684845111
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
288
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Nicht verfügbar