Lexington, KY - Remember service? It was that helpful assistance by airline personnel to make certain you made your connection or simply received a pillow. Service was when the teller where you banked for five years knew you by name instead of demanding identification. Service was when other companies saw your company as a valued customer and not just a profit center. Service was when company help lines actually answered and provided help.
Service is making a comeback and for a good reason. It turns out that good service, even during poor economies, builds profits. Failure to recognize the value of customer loyalty and to build into companies the means to achieve it ultimately results in failure.
Returning the value of service to companies is the aim of a new book, Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit, by Leonardo Inghilleri and Micah Solomon. It's based on the idea that, while most businesses say they value their customers, few provide consistent, excellent service. As a result, the kind of strategic and financial value an organization should be creating doesn't happen.
This book is exceptional in several regards. Foremost is the uniquely talented writing team who combined divergent histories and talents to create a meaningful philosophy of business service.
Micah Solomon is the president and founder of Oasis Disc Manufacturing, a company offering independent filmmakers and musicians CD and DVD replication. Solomon built the company to be one people could trust - an oasis in an impersonal business world. The highly successful business has developed a loyal following due to its reputation for integrity and customer service.
The other half of the team, Leonardo Inghilleri, gained recognition as an expert on customer service after spearheading The Ritz-Carlton's unrivaled double-win of the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award. He created The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center and Learning Institute and has worked with other noted hotel groups.
It's fair to say the authors are from different generations and markedly diverse industries. The fact that their experiences converge on this topic underscores its necessity for any organization. Whether you're a bricks-and-mortar manufacturer or a high-tech entrepreneur, this is a book that can change the way you do business.
Traditional emphasis on speed, efficiency and volume may look good on a spreadsheet, the authors write, but "what builds strategic value for a business, is loyalty: customer loyalty, employee loyalty."
"The single best thing you can do for your business is to build true customer loyalty," the authors say.
Having established the need for all organizations to follow this course, the real value of this book is in telling us how.
"The magic happens when you, your systems, and the employees throughout the ranks of your business anticipate the needs of your customers, learning to recognize and respond to the needs of your customers before they are expressed - sometimes before your customers even realize they have a need. That is the difference between providing ho-hum service by merely reacting to customer requests and building loyalty through true anticipatory service."
The first step is to build customer satisfaction. This is done through four basic concepts that form the basis of customer satisfaction: 1) a perfect product, 2) delivered by caring people, 3) in a timely fashion, and 4) with the support of an effective problem resolution process.
Next, the authors detail how an organization builds a brand in regard to customer loyalty. Of particular interest is chapter six, which is devoted to how organizations can build "anticipation" into products and services. Getting your company to think like a customer and deploying every employee as an "improvement manager" are among the ideas in creating service that stands out.
Chapter seven, titled simply "Your People," is reason enough to buy the book. Far too many organizations continue to proclaim "our people are our most important asset," while never matching that in their actions. To create an extraordinary experience for customers, an aligned, informed company is essential. This chapter highlights that customer service truly begins at home.
Customer loyalty extends online, as the authors point out in a chapter on using the Internet to serve customers. Too many companies slack off in thinking the Internet is a guaranteed ally, but without using it correctly, a company won't achieve its goals.
Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit is a must-read. Unlike many business books, it is one part theory and two parts application. It's straightforward manner, practical examples and ready-to-use suggestions make it an invaluable resource for any company.