Nearly every company trumpets its commitment to service in its mission statement, employee training, and sales literature. As much as customer service has been emphasized in the past few decades, it’s receiving even more emphasis today.
Almost without exception, people have many more choices when they shop. Can’t find an out-of-print book at the local used bookstore? Try the digital shelves of Amazon. Don’t like the selection of iPhone covers at the Apple Store? A nearly infinite variety is within a few mouse clicks.
As choice has expanded, service expectations have risen. Today’s customers expect faster and better responses from businesses. A few years ago, most businesses were doing well if they could respond by sundown to a customer request, but today same-day service usually isn’t good enough to begin a customer relationship.
Whether you own a small business, work for a growing company, or manage people in any capacity, you’ve faced the challenges of ensuring that your service is excellent and of creating the right conditions to bring out service excellence in others.
As someone who has attended seminars on service, started and run several small businesses, and managed people for a Fortune 500 company, I am struck by how limited our concept of service really is. When we talk about service, it’s almost always customer service. Yet, don’t most of us have relationships at home that are at least as important as the ones we have at work?
The same principles that are crucial to delivering lights-out service on the job can be applied just as well to nurture relationships at home. While great customer service in the workplace can help you make a living, great service in your home can help you make a life.
This book is titled Out with Customer Service, In With People Service because it’s about ways to expand the basic principles of great service and relationship-building to every facet of your life. Even if you don’t run a business or manage employees, this book was written for you if you want greater career success and better, more satisfying relationships with your family and friends.
Linda Allen has been blessed to manage a variety of different teams during her 19-year career with State Farm, a Fortune 500 insurance company.