I had received this book FOC from Mr Kaufman himself in December last year when he turned up unexpectedly as part of the closing session of the Get Paid to Speak workshop at MBS. That evening, he gave a short but great speech. And I had the chance to ask the first question from the floor. His Q&A session was just as good, if not better.
15 Chapters
This book contains amazing stories of spectacular service and how you can do it, too. It also has real drama and trauma of service disasters, and what you must avoid. Finally, it has key lessons and learning points to motivate your staff, build your service culture, and keep your customers coming back for more. There are 15 chapters as follows:
- Service is an Inside Job
- The Heart of the Matter
- The Spirit of the Team
- Listen to the Language
- Generating New Ideas
- Positive, Productive Partners
- Creating Service Culture
- Personal and Proactive
- Setting the Pace, Leading the Race
- Building Up Your Business
- When Things Go Wrong
- Service Recovery= Customer Loyalty
- The Infinite Absurdity Awards
- Sometimes Service Stinks
- Final Thoughts
Three Selected Stories
- 100% is not enough. You need 120%! “I recently organized a service benchmarking visit to Singapore for 22 Korean sales and service trainers. In seven days we visited 23 leading organizations. At the Singapore Airlines Cabin Crew Training Centre, one visitor asked,’ How does Singapore Airlines stay on top all these years? And how do you plan to keep the lead while other airlines work so hard to beat you?’ SVP Mr Sim Kay Wee answered clearly:’ 100% is not enough. When you reached #1, you need 120%.’”
- Keep your suppliers eager with a 70/30 split “To keep your suppliers on their toes, try this smart tip I learned from Group Purchasing Manager of Asia Pacific Breweries. Whenever he contracts to purchase items from more than one supplier, he gives one vendor 70% of the total purchase, while a second vendor gets 30%. And he tells them both exactly what he is doing. If the first vendor does a good job, she knows she is keeping well over half the total purchase volume. But if she does a poor job, she knows she stands to lose more than half of what she is currently supplying. On the other hand, if the second vendor does a great job, he knows he could double his order if he takes over from the first vendor. However, if he does a poor job, he knows he is dispensable as he supplies less then half the company’s required volume.”
- Customer recovery first, system recovery second! “I was staying at a diving resort in Papua New Guinea recently. It was quite pleasant, with friendly staff, comfortable accommodation and good food. I enjoyed a night dive with hungry starfish, scurrying crabs and parrot fish asleep amidst the coral. After the dive, however, I realized someone had slipped into my cabin and scurried off with a pair of pants and a matching canvas belt. I did not sleep well and the next morning reported the loss to the resort manager. ‘Oh dear, we do have that problem,’ she said. ‘Are you sure your locked your door?’ I assured her that I had, to which she replied,’ I think we need to change the lock on that cabin.’ And that was it. From my point of view, someone had entered my room and helped themselves to my clothing. From her point of view, ‘we need to change the lock’”
Key Takeaways
- This book is a great read for anyone from the front office interacting with the customers directly.
- For the big bosses interested in improving the service culture both internally and externally, this book is also a great resource.
#Service #Ron Kaufman