Delivering knock your socks off service

Contents......Page 4
Preface......Page 6
Our Thanks......Page 9
Part One: The Fundamental Principles of Knock Your Socks Off Service......Page 10
Quality Customer Service......Page 12
Being the Company: It’s Everything You Do......Page 14
2 Know What Knock Your Socks Off Service Is......Page 17
Getting Yourself Organized: The RATER Factors......Page 18
The Service Promise......Page 21
Managing Promises......Page 23
Fixing Promises When They Break......Page 24
4 Knock Your Socks Off Service Is: Responsive......Page 26
Setting—and Meeting—Deadlines......Page 27
When Customers Must Wait......Page 28
5 Knock Your Socks Off Service Is: Reassuring......Page 30
Bad Service Drives Customers Away......Page 31
The Reassurance Factor......Page 32
Extra Points for Style......Page 33
6 Knock Your Socks Off Service Is: Empathetic......Page 34
What’s the Difference?......Page 36
7 Knock Your Socks Off Service Is: Tangibles......Page 38
Demonstrating Value......Page 40
8 Customers Are Everywhere—Inside and Out......Page 42
Identifying Your Customers......Page 43
Internal Customers......Page 44
9 The Ten Deadly Sins of Customer Service......Page 46
Ten Sins You Can Control......Page 47
Right and Wrong......Page 50
Why We’re There......Page 51
Three Ways to Make Customers Right......Page 52
Unfair Advantage......Page 53
Part Two: The How To's of Knock Your Socks Off Service......Page 56
11 Honesty Is the Only Policy......Page 58
Do It for Yourself Too......Page 60
Rules vs. Assumptions......Page 62
Red Rules vs. Blue Rules......Page 64
Breaking vs. Bending the Rules......Page 65
13 Creating Trust in an Insecure, Suspicious World......Page 66
How Do You Build Trust?......Page 67
Trust and Recovery......Page 69
14 Do the Right Thing . . . Regardless......Page 70
Is the Right Thing Ever Wrong?......Page 71
15 Listening Is a Skill—Use It......Page 74
Good Listeners Are Made, Not Born......Page 75
Barriers to Effective Listening......Page 76
Background Questions......Page 79
Probing Questions......Page 80
Confirmation Questions......Page 81
When Questions Go Wrong......Page 83
Forbidden Phrases......Page 84
The Message Behind the Words......Page 86
Scripting the Panic Away......Page 87
18 Facts for Face to Face......Page 89
Nonverbal Cues......Page 91
19 Tips for Telephone Talk......Page 93
Answering the Phone......Page 94
Entering Information......Page 95
Putting a Caller on Hold......Page 96
Taking Messages......Page 97
Voice Mail......Page 98
Teleconferencing......Page 99
20 Putting Pen to Paper......Page 102
Your Message......Page 103
21 Putting Your Best E-Mail Foot Forward......Page 105
Replying to E-Mails......Page 106
The Outcome......Page 108
Personalization......Page 109
Everything Counts......Page 111
The Moments of Truth......Page 112
Managing the Moments of Truth......Page 113
23 Good Selling Is Good Service—Good Service Is Good Selling......Page 115
When Lines Overlap......Page 116
When Selling Is Good Service......Page 117
Nine Times When You Should Thank Customers......Page 119
Three Ways to Say Thank-You......Page 121
Five Often-Forgotten Thank-Yous......Page 122
Part Three: The Problem-Solving Side of Knock Your Socks Off Service......Page 124
25 Be a Fantastic Fixer......Page 126
The Recovery Process......Page 127
Asking for Trouble......Page 129
Legal Jeopardy......Page 132
Customer Jeopardy......Page 133
Scapegoating......Page 134
Do It Right......Page 135
Axiom 1: Customers Have Specific Recovery Expectations......Page 136
Axiom 2: Successful Recovery is Psychological as Well as Physical: Fix the Person, then the Problem......Page 137
Axiom 3: Work in a Spirit of Partnership......Page 138
Axiom 4: Customers React More Strongly to “Fairness” Failures Than to “Honest Mistakes.”......Page 139
Axiom 5: Effective Recovery Is a Planned Process......Page 140
28 Service Recovery on the Internet......Page 142
Preliminary Rules of the Road......Page 143
Color-Coding Your Response......Page 146
Tip of the Iceberg......Page 149
Step 1: LISTEN to Find the Problem......Page 151
Step 2: PROBE for Understanding and Confirmation......Page 152
Step 3: Find and Implement SOLUTIONS......Page 153
One Extra Step......Page 154
31 Customers From Hell Are Customers Too......Page 156
Approaches to Obnoxious Customers......Page 157
Sample Behaviors......Page 162
Ways to Work With Betty......Page 163
Ways to Work With Harold......Page 164
Ways to Work With Dick......Page 165
Ways to Work With Freda......Page 166
Part Four: Knock Your Socks Off Service Fitness: Taking Care of You......Page 168
33 Master the Art of Calm......Page 170
Ten Stress Reducers......Page 171
34 Keep It Professional......Page 174
Taking Care of Business......Page 175
Involvement Varies......Page 176
Who You Are vs. What You Do......Page 177
35 The Competence Principle: Always Be Learning......Page 178
Put Yourself in Training......Page 181
Learning to Celebrate......Page 184
Five Ways to Celebrate......Page 185
Resources......Page 188
About Performance Research Associates......Page 189
About the Authors......Page 190
E......Page 191
Q......Page 192
Z......Page 193