The Customer Rules
Book

The Customer Rules

The 14 Indespensible, Irrefutable, and Indisputable Qualities of the Greatest Companies in the World

C. Britt Beemer and Robert L. Shook
McGraw-Hill, 2008

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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

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Recommendation

C. Britt Beemer and Robert L. Shook explain in this book that companies which deliver great service to their consumers exhibit common qualities. For example, firms that tackle customer service as a collective imperative tend to outperform their competitors who consider it just a departmental activity. Emphasizing client support in training programs, not just in written policies, is another way to develop a solid base of returning customers. Each chapter of this guide is devoted to one of the 14 traits of great service providers. The authors drew from $300,000 of consumer research conducted exclusively for this project and enriched their findings by including many case studies of U.S. enterprises. getAbstract recommends this manual to readers who want to adopt the mutual practices of top client-service firms in order to build their own clienteles.

Summary

How to Provide Unbeatable Service

Delivering excellent customer service improves profitability, builds consumer loyalty and reduces buyer turnover. Many businesses readily acknowledge the importance of their clients, but few actually offer them great service. Firms trying to reach out to their customers often collect bad information and misinterpret it. Avoid these pitfalls by adopting the following 14 best practices that top companies employ to deliver exceptional service:

  1. “Everyone’s job” – Creating a department devoted to customer service may send the wrong message to your employees. Serving clients should be the top priority of all staff members, even those with no regular contact with customers. Some employees avoid customer contact because it seems to be beyond their regular duties. That’s not how the Four Seasons hotel chain operates, though. Its leaders teach employees to make guest service their main priority. If a guest asks a maintenance worker at a Four Seasons hotel for directions to the coffee shop, the worker will walk the guest to the location. Simply writing a company policy that makes customer service every staffer’...

About the Authors

Trend forecaster C. Britt Beemer is founder and CEO of America’s Research Group, a national firm that conducted the studies used exclusively for this book. Robert L. Shook is the author of many business books, five of which have appeared on The New York Times bestseller list. His recent books include Longaberger and The Pep Talk.

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