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The Customer Rules: The 39 Essential Rules for Delivering Sensational Service - Hardcover

Cockerell, Lee

 
9780770435608: The Customer Rules: The 39 Essential Rules for Delivering Sensational Service
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0770435602 ISBN 13: 9780770435608
Verlag: Crown Currency, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

The former Executive Vice President of Walt Disney World shares indispensible Rules for serving customers with consistency, efficiency, creativity, sincerity, and excellence. 

Lee Cockerell knows that success in business--any business--depends upon winning and keeping customers. In 39 digestible, bite-sized chapters, Lee shares everything he has learned in his 40+ year career in the hospitality industry about creating an environment that keeps customers coming back for more. Here, Lee not only shows why the customer always rules, but also the Rules for serving customers so well they'll never want to do business with anyone but you. For example:

Rule #1: Customer Service Is Not a Department
Rule #3: Great Service Follows the Laws of Gravity
Rule #5: Ask Yourself "What Would Mom Do?"
Rule #19: Be a Copycat
Rule #25. Treat Every Customer like a Regular
Rule #39: Don’t Try Too Hard

As simple as they are profound, these principles have been shown to work in companies as large as Disney and as small as a local coffee shop; from businesses selling cutting-edge technologies like computer tablets to those selling products as timeless as shoes and handbags; at corporations as long-standing as Ford Motors and those as nascent as a brand new start-up. And they have been proven indispensible at all levels of a company, from managers responsible for hiring and training employees, setting policies and procedures, and shaping the company culture to front line staff who deal directly with clients and customers

Chock-full of universal advice, applicable online and off, The Customer Rules is the essential handbook for service excellence everywhere.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Lee Cockerell is the author of Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney, among others. He is the former Executive Vice President of Operations of Walt Disney World and has held executive positions at Hilton Hotels and Marriott. During his distinguished career in the hospitality industry Cockerell earned a worldwide reputation as an expert on the customer experience. Cockerell travels the country addressing audiences at Fortune 100 companies;  educational institutions and non-profits; and government agencies, including the US military.

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Rule #1

Customer Service Is Not a Department

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my forty-plus years in the business world, it’s that customer service is far more than a department name or a desk that shoppers or clients go to with problems and complaints. It’s not a website, or a phone number, or an option on a pre-recorded phone menu. Nor is it a task or a chore. It’s a personal responsibility. And it’s not the responsibility only of people called customer service reps. It’s the responsibility of everyone in the organization, from the CEO to the newest and lowest-ranking frontline employee. In fact, everyone in the company should be thought of as a customer service rep, because in one way or another each of them has some impact on, and bears some responsibility for, the quality of the customer experience. Even if you never see or speak to a customer (or potential customer), you need to treat everyone with whom you interact--your vendors, your creditors, your suppliers, and so on--with sincerity and respect. Trust me, the great service you give them will ultimately trickle down to your customers.

Great service serves bottom-line business objectives. Sounds simple, but I constantly meet executives who don’t understand that. They say things like “I’m in the commodity business, and it’s all about the product.” I tell them that they’d better have a great product, because the most extraordinary customer service in the world won’t compensate for a bad one. But then I tell them that unless their product is the only one of its kind on the planet (and will always be the only one), good quality alone won’t guarantee long-term profits. Time and again, customer service has been shown to be the best way to distinguish an outstanding company or organization from its competitors. Let’s face it, no matter what business or industry you’re in, there’s probably someone--or many someones--who offers more or less the same product or service you do. But if you provide the same product plus personal service that feels authentic, you will have a leg up. No matter what business you’re in, great service is a competitive advantage that costs you little or nothing but adds huge value for your customer. And it’s one advantage you can’t afford to pass up, because in today’s highly competitive marketplace your customers will leave you in a heartbeat if your service doesn’t measure up. Don’t take my word for it; look at the research. In one study, customers were asked why they stopped doing business with a company. Forty-three percent named “negative experience with a staff person” as the main reason for taking their business elsewhere, and 30 percent said they moved on because they were made to feel they were not a valued customer.

My point is that most people expect quality products and services. It’s the lowest common denominator. But if your company gives people the products or services they want and customer service that exceeds their expectations, you have an unbeatable combination, and one your competition can’t easily imitate. Don’t get confused about the difference between the services you sell and customer service. Services are what consumers come to you for and pay for. Customer service encompasses the entire experience, from the moment a person logs on to your website or walks through your front door until the moment they log off or walk out. It’s what brings the human factor into a transaction. Some hardened number types scoff at the notion of the human factor. But as I’ve learned over the course of decades working at some of the most profitable companies in the world, the emotional element is as important as--even more important than--the money that changes hands. That is why it should be delivered not just competently, but with ultimate respect, sincerity, and care.

Some managers and executives turn up their noses at the whole idea of service. They believe it’s too “soft” for someone in their position of importance to think about, what with all the decisions they have to make and bottom lines they have to meet and the competitors breathing down their necks. Creating better products, building fresh ad campaigns, pioneering new technologies or markets--those tasks feel sexy to them. They get their juices flowing. To them, customer service is a department. It’s something they can delegate to nice people who get along well with others. They couldn’t be more misguided.

That is why everyone in a company should be considered part of the customer service department. Several years ago, when I was in charge of operations at Disney World, we changed the title of our frontline managers to “guest service manager” and required them to get out of the office and spend 80 percent of their shift in the operations, providing service support to their direct reports. Overnight, our guest satisfaction scores rose sharply. So whether you’re the CEO, a midlevel manager, or the head of a small department, give your team members--and yourself!--responsibilities and titles that reflect their role in pleasing the customer.

Great service does not cost any more money than average or poor service. Yet the returns it delivers are spectacular. So invest in your company’s commitment to service by making it part of every employee’s job description and the guiding light of your entire operation.



Rule #2

You Win Customers One at a Time and Lose Them a Thousand at a Time

T here’s an old saying in business: “You win customers one at a time, and you lose them one at a time.” It’s outdated. In the age of social media, you can easily lose customers a thousand--even a -million--at a time. With a few keystrokes, one unhappy, frustrated, ticked-off customer can now tell her whole e‑mail list, all her Facebook friends, and everyone who reads her blog or follows her on Twitter why they should not do business with you. She can voice her outrage into a smartphone and put it up on YouTube with clever graphics. With a little creativity, she can even go Michael Moore on you and shoot a mini-documentary, complete with music and special effects, and generate enough viral buzz to do serious damage to your business. One major airline found this out the hard way when they made soldiers returning from Afghanistan pay baggage fees for their fourth bag. The soldiers made a video of the incident and put it up on YouTube. Within a day, the airline received thousands of complaints and was forced to back down.

True, satisfied customers can also spread the word about what they like about a company. But will they? Maybe, if they’re truly blown away by how great you are. But angry people are far more motivated to shout about their feelings, and furious exposés get a lot more attention than glowing testimonials. Humans are wired to pay more attention to the negative than the positive--it’s an evolutionary mechanism designed to keep us safe from danger. It’s why drivers slow down to look at car wrecks, not at Good Samaritans helping someone fix a flat tire. It’s why we remember warnings a lot better than we do recommendations. It’s built into our DNA.

I know about that dynamic from my own experience. I see good service all the time, but I don’t always go out of my way to write about it. However, when that same major airline once greeted a reasonable request of mine with a shocking and immediate “No,” I quickly posted a detailed description of my experience on my website blog.

Here’s what happened. I had decided to combine some speaking engagements with a vacation for my wife and me, plus my...

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Verlag
Crown Currency
Erscheinungsdatum
2013
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0770435602
ISBN 13 
9780770435608
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Auflage
1
Anzahl der Seiten
208
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Buchbär
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