Tesco
The Best Service is No Service
Book

The Best Service is No Service

How to Liberate Your Customers from Customer Service, Keep Them Happy, and Control Costs

Bill Price and David Jaffe
Jossey-Bass, 2008

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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Well Structured
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Many companies handle customer service exactly backward. They obsess about creating elaborate service experiences for their customers, when their primary goal, instead, should be making the customer service experience moot. Customer service gurus Bill Price and David Jaffe explain how companies should organize themselves in such a way that customers do not feel any need to contact them for assistance, and they explain how to handle clients’ concerns when they do need help. In addition to providing a clear, working plan and outstanding advice, the book offers a bonus: wonderfully entertaining cartoons that bring the main points to life. These lessons offer worthy guidance to everyone in business, not just customer service personnel. getAbstract recommends Price and Jaffe’s book to owners of businesses large or small, directors of customer service, students of business, and, especially, to start-ups and those trying to revive going concerns.

Take-Aways

  • Your firm’s primary goal shouldn’t be delivering great customer service; it should be “eliminating the need for customer service.”
  • Everyone in your company – not just your customer service department – should try to improve your customers’ experience of your service.
  • Eliminating traditional measurements, such as average handling time, improves customer service. Seven principles can guide you to achieving this goal:

About the Authors

Bill Price, president of Driva Solutions, a customer service consultancy, is the former global customer service vice president at Amazon. David Jaffe is a services and sales expert.

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