Synopses & Reviews
Praise for The Best Service Is No Service"A very sharp and practical treatise on why so many call centers and service operations are playing with the wrong deck of cards altogether. We strongly recommend it to anyone involved in customer service issues."
—Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D., authors, Rules to Break and Laws to Follow
"The Best Service Is No Service presents great new ideas about how to make service work for the company and the customer. Customers are clamoring for self-service that answers all of their questions, and this important book shows companies how to achieve this level of customer satisfaction."
—Sheryl Sandberg, vice president of online sales and operations, Google
"I recommend The Best Service Is No Service to companies and their outsourcing partners alike—when customers don't need to contact companies for help or information because everything is clear and works right, then everyone benefits. The 'best service' principles also work across all countries and cultures, a new universal goal!"
—Sanjeev Aggarwal, managing director, Helion Ventures Pvt Ltd Gurgaon, India, and founder and former CEO of IBM Daksh
"Building 'the best service is no service' also applies outside of corporations—universities and business schools can learn a lot from this book and its principles. I recommend this book to academic leaders for their schools and for their students to obtain firsthand lessons that really work!"
—James Jiambalvo, dean, Michael G. Foster School of Business; and Kirby L. Cramer Chair of Business Administration
"This book is compulsory reading for executives, customer service managers, and decision makers whose actions define a company's customer experience. The Best Service Is No Service points out areas where management mistakes or confusion can lead to unnecessary contacts and disoriented customers. The concept of 'no service' is elegant in its simplicity. You will find clear solutions and tips on how to achieve 'no service' but also how to provide 'awesome customer experiences' while pursuing 'no service.'"
—Bert Quintana, former vice president, Dell International Services
Review
"admirably straightforward book… refreshingly no-nonsense". (Financial Times , Thursday 27th March 2008)
Synopsis
The Best Service Is No ServiceMost customer service operations have it wrong. They gauge their effectiveness and productivity based on the number of customer calls or contacts they handle. But do your customers really want a "relationship" with your company's customer service department, or do they simply want to purchase your products or services so they can put them to use?
In this groundbreaking book, Bill Price and David Jaffe offer a new, game-changing approach, showing how managers are taking the wrong path and are using the wrong metrics to measure customer service. Customer service, they assert, is only needed when a company does something wrong—eliminating the need for service is the best way to satisfy customers. To be successful, companies need to treat service as a data point of dysfunction and figure what they need to do to eliminate the demand. The Best Service Is No Service outlines these seven principles to deliver the best service that ultimately leads to "no service":
Eliminate dumb contacts
Create engaging self-service
Be proactive
Make it easy to contact your company
Own the actions across the company
Listen and act
Deliver great service experiences
While self-service and customer relationship management are often tech-heavy and software-driven efforts, Price and Jaffe emphasize that no technology is needed to adopt a "no service" mindset—and any manager who tries to ferret out dysfunctional contacts between customers and companies can create far better, self-correcting systems.
Indispensable to both managers and leaders of organizations, The Best Service Is No Service redefines traditional notions of service and success.
Synopsis
Price and Jaffe assert that customer service is only needed when a company does something wrong, and that eliminating the need for service is the best way to satisfy customers.
Synopsis
In this groundbreaking book, Bill Price and David Jaffe offer a new, game-changing approach, showing how managers are taking the wrong path and are using the wrong metrics to measure customer service. Customer service, they assert, is only needed when a company does something wrong—eliminating the
need for service is the best way to satisfy customers. To be successful, companies need to treat service as a data point of dysfunction and figure what they need to do to eliminate the demand.
The Best Service Is No Service outlines these seven principles to deliver the best service that ultimately leads to "no service":
- Eliminate dumb contacts
- Create engaging self-service
- Be proactive
- Make it easy to contact your company
- Own the actions across the company
- Listen and act
- Deliver great service experiences
About the Author
Bill Price is president of Driva Solutions, the North American arm of LimeBridge, a customer service consultancy whose clients include Dell, Hyatt, McDonald's, Microsoft, and TiVo. Prior to founding Driva Solutions, Bill was Amazon.com's first vice president of Global Customer Service, a vice president at MCI, and a senior consultant with McKinsey & Company. A frequent keynote speaker, Price has written numerous articles and white papers.
David Jaffe is consulting director of Australia's leading customer experience improvement company and helps major corporations improve the service and sales that they deliver.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Why We Wrote This Book.
1 Challenge Customer Demand for Service: Instead of Coping with Demand.
2 Eliminate Dumb Contacts: Instead of Handling Them Again and Again.
3 Create Engaging Self-Service: Instead of Preventing Contact.
4 Be Proactive: Instead of Waiting to Respond.
5 Make It Really Easy to Contact Your Company: Instead of Dodging the Bullet.
6 Own the Actions Across the Organization: Instead of Blaming Customer Service.
7 Listen and Act: Instead of Letting Customer Insights Slip Away.
8 Deliver Great Service Experiences: How to Delight Customers with Awesome Support When They Need It.
Appendix A: Best Service Survey.
Appendix B: Glossary.
Appendix C: Bibliography.
Notes.
Acknowledgments.
About the Authors.
Index.