PREVIOUS BOOKS
We are proud that the frameworks we described in 2008 and 2015 are still relevant today.
THE BEST SERVICE IS NO SERVICE
HOW TO LIBERATE YOUR CUSTOMERS FROM CUSTOMER SERVICE, KEEP THEM HAPPY & CONTROL COSTS
March 21 2008
Most 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.
"The worst part of this book are the surveys at the end of each chapter. You find yourself nodding and taking notes throughout the chapter then you take the survey and realize that your company is just like one of those cited examples of customer service failure.
A great read and worth a second or even third read to review your services against those examples, collect that data and plan those changes. Practical examples and methodologies, a must read if you're a customer service operative, manager, Ceo or cmo.
Fantastic book." Mike Hales
YOUR CUSTOMER RULES
DELIVERING THE ME2B EXPERIENCES THAT TODAY'S CUSTOMERS DEMAND
13 November 2014
What you need to know about your customers
Now more than ever, every interaction you have with customers is critical. Customers today have unlimited information at their fingertips—and can influence the purchase decisions and behaviors of millions of others. With this comes a shift in the balance of power, and every company must come to terms with the fact that the customer is in control. Interacting with customers in the way they want is an essential business strategy and in many industries, the key to business success.
Executives still refer to B2B and B2C business models, as though companies control demand by going to customers with products and services. But as Bill Price and David Jaffe (authors of The Best Service is No Service) show, a new business model is emerging in which the customer directs the relationship. It is becoming a world of "Me2B"—one in which the customer, not the business, dictates the terms of engagement. In order for your business to thrive, you must create positive experiences to fulfill a range of customer needs.
Though the mediums for customer engagement continuously evolve, Price and Jaffe show that customer needs remain unchanging. In Your Customer Rules!, they define a critical hierarchy of seven needs that your company can meet and apply as a methodology.
Throughout this practical guidebook, Price and Jaffe share examples of companies who succeed by meeting these seven needs, including Amazon, Apple, IKEA, Nordstrom, USAA, Shoes of Prey, Vente-Privee, and Yamato Transport, as well as those that didn't. Your Customer Rules! offers tailored advice for companies at every stage, from nimble startups to legacy firms with established customer service practices—and everyone in between.
With a simple, elegant solution for driving lasting value for customers, Your Customer Rules! is a clear guide for strengthening customer relationships and competing on more than price. It is essential reading for executives at all levels—business owners, marketing managers, and anyone who works directly with customers.