Uncommon Service, Frances Frei
Uncommon Service, Frances Frei
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Uncommon Service
How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business

Author: Frances Frei, Anne Morriss

Narrator: Eliza Foss

Unabridged: 6 hr 52 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 06/09/2020


Synopsis

Most companies treat service as a low-priority business operation, keeping it out of the spotlight until a customer complains. Then service gets to make a brief appearance—for as long as it takes to calm the customer down and fix whatever foul-up jeopardized the relationship. In Uncommon Service, Frances Frei and Anne Morriss show how, in a volatile economy where the old rules of strategic advantage no longer hold true, service must become a competitive weapon, not a damage-control function. That means weaving service tightly into every core decision your company makes. The authors reveal a transformed view of service, presenting an operating model built on tough choices organizations must make: (1) How do customers define "excellence" in your offering? Is it convenience? Friendliness? Flexible choices? Price?, (2) How will you get paid for that excellence? Will you charge customers more? Get them to handle more service tasks themselves?, (3) How will you empower your employees to deliver excellence? What will your recruiting, selection, training, and job design practices look like? What about your organizational culture?, and (4) How will you get your customers to behave? For example, what do you need to do to get them to treat your employees with respect? Do you need to make it easier for them to use new technology? Practical and engaging, Uncommon Service makes a powerful case for a new and systematic approach to service as a means of boosting productivity, profitability, and competitive advantage.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Steven on November 13, 2012

Uncommon Service makes one especially good point, which is that the customer service experience involves trade offs, where you can do some things well, but not all. While this is an important point, the remainder of the book tends to fall increasingly flat, with fewer additional ideas that could be......more

Goodreads review by Evan on September 15, 2022

If you have not been “in the trenches” of the product or service that your company is offering for some time this book can serve as a good reminder of some suggested practices. In short be honest with the scale you operate at, and the limits of your team. Build your service around those factors whil......more

Goodreads review by Jeff on April 03, 2013

This book has really stuck with me since I've read it. That says a lot for someone who reads a lot of books about customer service. I really like how the core points are presented in a very logical framework. For example, one of the main points of the book is that your business can't be good at every......more

Goodreads review by Shanky on March 18, 2020

Breezy read. Very very practical. Has the answers to most common doubts and questions that you might have while reading the book. I would say the book has achieved the objective of had set out with. If you are a service business owner or an aspiring one or a senior level manager in a service busines......more

Goodreads review by James on December 26, 2023

To achieve service excellence, you must underperform in strategic ways. This means delivering on the service dimensions your customers value most, and then making it possible—profitable and sustainable—by performing poorly on the dimensions they value least. In other words, you must be bad in the se......more