It doesn't take long to read and the concepts are very simple so why aren't more businesses levering themselves with the concepts that Ken Blanshard and Sheldon Bowles offer?
My gawd! They've sold over a million copies since 1993 so you would think that the seeds of their service creed would be everywhere. In fact you would expect that mighty oaks of retail service would have grown by now! And yet... And yet we remain "satisfied sheep" - satisfied if we can find the product ourselves and escape from the store through a self-serve checkout within a minimal amount of time.
I asked some high school students about great customer service they have received and I learned something significant. They don't get good customer service. They are lucky if they are not treated as petty thieves first and pestilence second. They are happy if they get a smile. But one young man described his purchase from a sporting goods store - not the typical fashion running shoe store with T-shirts and hoodies but a real out door sporting store with rods and reels and boots and blinds; one that I rarely visit these days. When he made his purchase he said he was actually reluctant to leave the store because he was having such a great time with the sales staff. He felt he had made a purchase that now allowed him to be part of their club and these guys new exactly how he felt. This young man had become a raving fan of the store.
Businesses that attract raving fans have a clear vision of what they are offering their customers and appreciate every moment the customer is with them. They talk to their customers and more importantly - learn from their customers and then improve on what they are doing. You need to read the book to find out the third principle.
Perhaps the book is on your shelf. In this tough economy, perhaps it is time to dust it off and revisit what it takes to turn internal and external customers into raving fans. I know its got me fired up again.
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