Discovering the Soul of Service

In a world where customers regard flawless products as a given, service is the key differentiator between competitors in any field. This wise and inspiring book by Leonard Berry, our leading service expert, 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.

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.

A foremost researcher on service quality in America builds a comprehensive model of what makes an organization successful--in a far-reaching guide on how to sustain excellence.

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.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Author's Note

0. Sustaining Success in Service Companies
1. Success-Sustaining Values
2. Leading with Values
3. Strategic Focus
4. Executional Excellence
5. Control of Destiny
6. Trust-Based Relationships
7. Investment in Employee Success
8. Acting Small
9. Brand Cultivation
10. Generosity
11. Lessons from World-Class Service Companies

Notes

Interviewees and Other Contributors

Index