WSJ’s “Focus on Customer Service”
The Monday, October 30, Wall Street Journal has a special leadership section [subscription required] focusing on customer service.
The section included about a half-dozen articles covering everything from best practices in the restaurant business to the correlation between satisfaction and pricing. I was pleased to see that virtually every article referenced the critical importance of measuring performance. If you’re a building professional, and you only have time for one, check out Beyond Satisfaction [subscription required]. From the article:
“Pulte’s repeat and referral business [has grown] to 45% of the company’s revenue from 20% in 2001.”
“There is no department in [JetBlue] called ‘customer service’…because every person and every department should embody the term.”
A few other tidbits from elsewhere in the section:
“Keeping realistic promises is more important than providing higher-level service.”
“…highly satisfied [Starbucks] customers spent 9% more than those who were simply satisfied.”
“A good employee or sales associate might be worth five or ten times an average one.”