Uplifting Service: The Proven Path to Delighting Your Customers, Colleagues, and Everyone Else You Meet [Paperback]

Ron Kaufman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2012

New York Times Bestseller Uplifting Service: The Proven Path to Delighting Your Customers, Colleagues, and Everyone Else You Meet

We are deep in a service crisis. In the operating room, surgeons and their teams communicate in a very precise language; airplane pilots follow a strict protocol to take-off and land safely every time; and, when launching a new product, companies lay out a plan that all employees follow. But when it comes to building a strong service culture, the path to success is usually much less clear. We relegate service to a single department guided by anecdotal wisdom and less-than-helpful cliches like "the customer is always right."

With global economies transforming at record speed, we are largely unprepared for the service demands we face day and night from around the world. We promise our customers satisfaction and then allow internal politics and inefficient methods to frustrate our ability to deliver. With service so much a part of our daily lives, both in and outside the workplace, why aren't we doing it better?

New York Times bestselling author Ron Kaufman knows the answer to this question, and not only believes we can do it better, but shows us how. In Uplifting Service he takes you on a journey into a new world of service that is guided by fundamental principles and actionable models. After more than two decades helping leaders transform their service cultures, Kaufman has discovered that while each successful team is different, the architecture they apply to build an uplifting service culture is the same.

In this New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon.com bestselling book, Kaufman lays out the steps you can take to build a sustainable culture that delivers outstanding service every day. He offers the tools and practices that have been proven effective in businesses, governments, communities, and homes; on every continent; and in many languages. Through perspective changing insights and case studies, you will learn how the world's best performing companies have changed the game through service - and how you too can follow this proven path to an uplifting transformation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Ron Kaufman has pinpointed a massive wound in society, and offers a strategy on how to uplift the world around us. For mankind, it's transformational. For business, it's a clean and clear path to a sustainable competitive advantage. This book is long overdue, and will certainly create a legendary shift." --Thomas Moran, Director, Customer and Partner Experience, Microsoft Operations

"Uplifting Service is a much needed breath of fresh air for our troubled times. Service authority Ron Kaufman has distilled his global perspective into a blue print for delighting customers. This is a critical skill now that social media has amplified customer's voices many times over. If you have customers you must read this now." --Stephen M. R. Covey and Greg Link, Bestselling Authors of Smart Trust

"Read this book, apply the steps. Watch your culture transform and your perspective on service change forever. Ron Kaufman has unlocked the mystery of service. Get ready for a magnificent journey into a new world." --Marshall Goldsmith, Bestselling Author of What Got You Here Won't Get You There

"Uplifting Service gets to the bottom of what every great business should be, and then uplifts it. Ron's message is timely and the architecture he provides for building a service culture is timeless. This is a necessary book for every business." --Ann Rhodes, Executive Vice President of Jet Blue and Bestselling Author of Built on Values

"Uplifting Service is one book every leader must read and every service provider should embrace as their guide. Read it, apply it, and then recommend your customers read it. This book will immediately elevate the value of your relationships. I have witnessed and walked on this proven path and have seen the results that follow. Now is the right time for you and your customers to experience this uplifting transformation as well." --Jagdish Ramaswamy, Chief Quality Officer, Wipro

"When it comes to delivering world class service, Ron Kaufman understands two things. First, providing exemplary service is an organization-wide, all hands process, not just smiles over the phone or isolated heroics. Second, he understands how to help organizations internalize this service paradigm until it becomes part of their DNA and their customer loyalty soars. In Uplifting Service, Ron provides a proven and practical roadmap for making this happen." --Richard Whiteley, Bestselling Author of Customer Driven Growth

"Uplifting Service reveals the 'big picture' and the power of service today. Ron Kaufman gives every company the tools to build a client base of Raving Fans!" --Ken Blanchard, New York Times Bestselling Author of The One Minute Manager and Gung Ho!

"I've seen the corporate landscape evolve. And I've seen many aspects remain static - unchanged but not unchangeable. Ron Kaufman shows us how we can evolve with his book, Uplifting Service. This is the ultimate goal: to elevate and rise above yesterday." --Warren Bennis, Bestselling Author of Still Surprised: Memoir of a Life in Leadership

"In Uplifting Service, Ron Kaufman convincingly reveals why the right kind of service can transform your business, and he also provides a detailed and easy-to-follow blueprint. Every CEO, manager and employee who provides service to others should not only read this book, but use it as an ongoing reference." --Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, Bestselling Authors of The Carrot Principle and All In

About the Author

Ron Kaufman, the Founder of UP! Your Service, is the world's premiere thought-leader, educator, and motivator for uplifting customer service and building service cultures.

Ron is a columnist at Bloomberg Businessweek and he has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and USA Today. With powerful insights from working with clients all over the world in every major industry for more than two decades, Ron is an inspiration to leaders and managers in his highcontent, high-energy speeches and impactful, interactive workshops. He is rated one of the world's Top 25 Who's Hot speakers by Speaker Magazine. Ron is passionately committed to uplifting the spirit of service worldwide.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Evolve Publishing (May 15, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0984762558
• ISBN-13: 978-0984762552
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 1 x 6.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (106 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #127,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ron Kaufman is author of the New York Times and USA Today bestseller, "UPLIFTING SERVICE: The Proven Path to Delighting Your Customers, Colleagues and Everyone Else You Meet".

For over two decades Ron has helped companies on every continent build a culture of uplifting service that delivers real business results year after year. Making transformation his mission, Ron is one of the world's most sought-after educators, consultants, thought-leaders and customer service speaker in achieving superior service.

Any business can say the customer is king, and many spend a lot of time and money on incremental service improvement. But Ron understands the only reliable way for a company to achieve and maintain a competitive edge is to build a culture that empowers every employee to surprise and delight customers and colleagues with truly uplifting service.

Ron works with a successful clientele of government agencies and multinational corporations including Singapore Airlines, Xerox, Nokia Siemens Networks, Marina Bay Sands and Wipro. He delivers powerful insights and global best practices enabling organizations to gain a sustainable advantage through service.

Ron's methodology includes a set of proven service principles, leadership rules, culture-building blocks and implementation roadmaps that apply effectively across all industries and cultures. This methodology is easily customized to suit the unique needs of each organization, including all departments and team members from leadership to frontline.

Ron is a columnist at Bloomberg BusinessWeek. He is the author of 15 books on service, business and inspiration, including "UPLIFTING SERVICE: The Proven Path to Delighting Your Customers, Colleagues and Everyone Else You Meet". He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and USA Today.

In "UPLIFTING SERVICE: The Proven Path to Delighting Your Customers, Colleagues and Everyone Else You Meet", Ron's proprietary architecture for building an uplifting service culture is available in one comprehensive volume. Finally, leaders at all levels will have a blueprint for making uplifting service a part of everything they are and everything they do.

Find out why companies like Federal Express, Citibank, Singapore Airlines, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft and ExxonMobil learn from Ron, and regularly bring Ron in-house an on-stage for their most important leadership and company events.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Looking at SERVICE in a whole new way May 16, 2012

By Heather

Format:Paperback

As a small business owner, I like to think that I have the area of service covered, but what I've learned in this book is that Service (with a capital 's') is much more than just responding to emails quickly and being nice to my customers. This book challenges me to uplift my service and integrate a service culture into every part of my company and my BEING. I have learned specific tools to not only run a more successful business, but also be a better person. That was unexpected from a "customer service" book. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to build better relationships professionally and personally and raise themselves and their businesses to the next level.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to read, steeped in experience, immediately practical May 21, 2012

By Les McKeown

Format:Paperback

If you know Ron Kaufman as I do (full disclosure: Ron and his company, "Up! Your Service" are clients of mine), then you'll hear his voice in every paragraph of this book - passionate, inspiring, knowledgeable, experienced, and above all, practical. Ron writes about customer service the same way he lives his life: all in.

Whether you're the CEO, CMO (or even the CFO) of a multinational working to stay at the top of your customer service game, an SVP trying to rein in the bureaucracy that's killing your customer service levels, or a business owner wanting to retain the nimbleness and flexibility your small business has made into a competitive advantage, either way, this book is for you.

Written in a distinctive, enjoyable style, filled with you-are-there case studies, and peppered throughout with immediately actionable advice, you'll find yourself returning to the text over and over, highlighting key concepts and scribbling furiously in the margin (or making notes in your Kindle version).

My advice? Don't just get one copy - buy a copy for every executive in your business who is responsible for customer service. You won't regret it, and it might just revolutionize your business.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Truly Relatable and Actionable Guide to Customer Service May 29, 2012

By VisibilityCoach

Format:Paperback

I became a fan of Ron Kaufman after reading an earlier book of his years ago following terrific presentation I attended while doing business in Singapore. I was really impressed at how this American ex-pat was able to connect with his international audience in such a free, humorous and easy manner. The lessons were profoundly universal; the manner remarkably relatable.

Now, with his new best-selling book "Uplifting Service," Ron Kaufman has taken his practical, relevant and actionable lessons to a terrific new level. Far from the academic approach taken by other customer service "experts", Kaufman weaves his lessons through both experience and allegory, best-practice and worst-case, real-world and relatable, memorable scenarios that make the lessons come alive. And isn't the point of lessons to be remembered so they can be acted upon? He is both a master story-teller and well-verse businessman helping the reader to understand, not just the meaning, but the ramifications of both action and inaction.

In "Uplifting Service" Kaufman promises to help readers "delight their customers." I have no doubt that his lessons will result in such a reaction on your company's front-line, but in relating them in this terrific book, Kaufman has succeeded in delighting his readers as well.

David Avrin - The Visibility Coach
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