Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service [Paperback]

Chip R. Bell (Author), Ron Zemke (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0814477844 | ISBN-13: 978-0814477847 | Publication Date: February 12, 1992

Customers who experience world class "knock your socks off service" can become the most loyal customers. But how do you implement and maintain such a service? This title shows managers how.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

"In Delivering Knock Your Socks off Service, Ron Zemke gave service providers a crash course in how to care for customers.

Now, in Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service, Zemke and Chip Bell show managers how to make exemplary service ""happen"" in their organization over and over again.

As Zemke and Bell point out, having excellent service providers is only half of the service battle. For without support and appreciation for a good job, and the right systems to deliver what they've promised customers, service providers soon wither and die -- or quit. And worse, customers go off in search of care.

Written for front-line managers, supervisors, and owners of small companies, Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service shows how to create good service on a day-to-day, real-time, every-time basis. Zemke and Bell present eight clear goals for ensuring superior service:

1. Find and retain quality people

2. Know your customers intimately

3. Focus your unit on a specific organizational purpose

4. Create easy-to-do-business-with delivery systems

5. Train -- and support -- employees

6. Involve and empower employees

7. Recognize and reward good performance

8. Set the tone and lead the way through your personal example

In spirited detail, Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service presents practical ways to achieve excellence in each of these vital areas. Chapters are filled with quotes from service standard-setters, such as Marriott, Federal Express, and Southwest Airlines.

According to Zemke and Bell: ""The corporate hero of the 1990's will be the manager who understands the design, development, and delivery of high-quality service."" Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service will help create a new generation of service quality heroes."

About the Author

"RON ZEMKE is co-author of the best-selling business book, Service America. Founder and president of Performance Research Associates, he is consultant to both Fortune 500 and small-business clients. He has written nine books, including Stressless Selling (AMACOM).

CHIP R. BELL is a partner at Performance Research Associates, where he focuses on service management consulting and team building. He has written numerous articles and eight books, including Influencing: Marketing the Ideas That Matter and Clients and Consultants."

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 17 and up
  
• Paperback: 210 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (February 12, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814477844
• ISBN-13: 978-0814477847
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,642,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A manual for daily living!, December 24, 2001

By 

"centercounter" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service (Paperback)

I have been working in the computer help desk field for almost 2 years and before that for 18 months in Marketing Communications. Reading this book and Delivering KYSOS has convicted me of many errors in attitude and performance and shows that excellent customer service does not have to be drudgery and can really be fun!

Furthermore, as a side benefit, I have begun to apply KYSOS in my personal life as well, and am really enjoying it. It has also made me aware of excellent service when I receive it, and I now feel obligated to compliment the deliverer (and sometimes the manager!) rather than simply be served and move on.

You don't have to work in a traditional Customer Service role to benefit. No matter what your work is, you have customers - your bosses, shareholders, executives, your secretaries and clerical help, your vendors, etc. And if you are out of work, your potential employers and interviewers are your customers!

Don't buy this book or any in the Knock Your Socks Off series unless you are prepared to make some basic changes in your general attitude that will make your work and your personal life more rewarding and a lot more fun!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good complete overview of service management basics, February 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service (Paperback)

Very easy reading, but deep enough to explain the principles of managing service. Concepts are backed up with numbers and research. The text includes the right number of stories, cases and quotes to make the ideas come alive. Covers many topics related to service management. Does not assume "call center" customer service as the domain in question. In short, a good guide to service management !

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service, November 27, 2001

By 

R. Buffaloe (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service (Paperback)

Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service is a must have book for anyone in the service industry. All companies have consumers, either internal(employees) or external (customers), or both. Zemke & Bell have created a simple, yet intricate formula for great customer service. First, there must be a vision for all to follow & it must be communicated to all. Great customer service is a critical factor in today's economy and will continue to be in the future. If you can provide great customer service first for your employees and allow them to be a viable resource for you, then they can carry on that vision and are able to provide knock your socks off service to your customers.
If you are in management now or will be in the future, please read and learn how you can provide great customer service to your company, employees, and your customers. Success can be within your reach, if you apply the philosophy within this book.