Research Catalog

Title

Uncommon service : how to win by putting customers at the core of your business / Frances Frei, Anne Morriss.

Author

Frei, Frances.

Publication

Boston, Mass. : Harvard Business Review Press, ©2012.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Morriss, Anne.

Description

x, 247 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

• Offers an organizational design model for service organizations, covering such topics as funding mechanisms, employee management systems, and customer management systems.
• Most companies treat service as a low-priority business operation, keeping it out of the spotlight until a customer complains. Then service gets to make a brief appearance - for as long as it takes to calm the customer down and fix whatever foul-up jeopardized the relationship. In this book, the authors show how, in a volatile economy where the old rules of strategic advantage no longer hold true, service must become a competitive weapon, not a damage-control function. That means weaving service tightly into every core decision your company makes. The authors reveal a transformed view of service, presenting an operating model built on tough choices organizations must make: How do customers define 'excellence' in your offering? Is it convenience? Friendliness? Flexible choices? Price?; How will you get paid for that excellence? Will you charge customers more? Get them to handle more service tasks themselves?; How will you empower your employees to deliver excellence? What will your recruiting, selection, training, and job design practices look like? What about your organizational culture?; How will you get your customers to behave? For example, what do you need to do to get them to treat your employees with respect? Do you need to make it easier for them to use new technology? Practical and engaging, Uncommon Service makes a powerful case for a new and systematic approach to service as a means of boosting productivity, profitability, and competitive advantage. Create an organizational culture that reinforces smart decisions around these questions and you'll achieve a service advantage that rivals can't hope to enjoy. -- Publisher description.

Subject

• Customer relations
• Customer services
• Service industries > Management
• Business and Management
• Kundenmanagement
• Dienstleistung
• Kundenorientierung

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical notes (p. [227]-231) and index.

Contents

Truth #1: you can't be good at everything -- Truth #2: someone has to pay for it -- Truth #3: it's not your employees' fault -- Truth #4: you must manage your customers -- Now multiply it all by culture -- Getting bigger.

ISBN

• 9781422133316
• 1422133311

LCCN

2011029760

OCLC

• ocn770616997
• 770616997
• SCSB-1635482

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library