Customer Reviews
Rich with Best Practice Ideas
It is easy to see why Leonard Berry is certain that this book is his best work. It is crammed with wonderful examples of how the dozen or so companies studied make service a delight for both employees and customers alike. Berry's knowledge of the subject also shines throughout the text, with matter-of-fact statements that reveal deeper philosophical insights, such as "The hard truth is: selfish companies cannot compete", or "Most great service companies are high touch and high tech, not one or the other". Overall, this book deserves to be studied not only by service practitioners, but by the highest levels of corporate management. It opens gateways to social and community service approaches that revisit and surpass the era of corporate paternalism. While acknowledging the power of contemporary shareowners in public companies, Berry, like Robert Monks, envisions greater emphasis on long-term ownership, rather than purely short-term profit-driven strategies.
The "Soul of Service" has exceptional substance.
Based on research by the author, this work examines the central driver of success, values driven leadership, which gives root to the other eight drivers: strategic focus; executional excellence; control of destiny; trust-based relationships; investment in employee success; acting small; brand cultivation; and generosity. Chapters are devoted to each of these drivers. A final chapter summarizes and connects all of these ideas. The book's key points are illustrated by a bountiful array of stories from the 14 award-winning companies that were the basis of the research. This engaging book is filled with vital lessons for achieving GREAT service. Recommended. Reviewed by Gerry Stern, founder HRconsultant.com, author of Stern's Sourcefinder The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, the CyberSpace SourceFinder, and the Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder.
True, sustainable recipe for sucessful Customer Service
It is very difficult for me to work with "interviews and case study" based books since they are almost invariably full of "brilliant" quotes and "success and beyond-duty" stories that, to say the least, sound too good as to be of a sustainable nature in real world. This book is based on experiences and what seems very solid research and, for sure, is not free of this type of passages; and yet, it is one of the most useful and often-referenced books that I own and work with. So, if you will yourself through it, you'll find one of the best and most down-to-earth books on Customer Service. The author identifies nine drivers that can make any organization successful, all of them emphasizing the human nature of the relationship with customers (customer-centered). It is truly a recipe for success, more easily applicable to on-going enterprises rather than to start-ups. From this book the reader can produce very useful check-lists to diagnose the company and its strategic practices regarding their service approach. It can also be used as a guiding document to move a company to a truly customer-awareness territory and, most important, to keep it there. Of special relevance is the author's brilliant exposition in the final chapter "Lessons from World-Class Service Companies", where the reader obtains a rarely seen synopsis of all the good things that excellent companies do "to sustain their excellence". If nothing else, this chapter by itself justifies buying this book and incorporating it to your professional library.
