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Summary: Solid summary of Basics of Customer Service
Review: "Excellent customer service" is a the frequent promise, which is SELDOM achieved. This book is a good guide to how the elements of really great customer service can be identified and cultivated in an organization. While it is directed more to the larger enterprise, the principles can be applied to small business also.
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Summary: The "Soul of Service" has exceptional substance.
Review: Based on research by the author, this work examines the central driver of success, values driven leadership, which gives root to the other eight drivers: strategic focus; executional excellence; control of destiny; trust-based relationships; investment in employee success; acting small; brand cultivation; and generosity. Chapters are devoted to each of these drivers. A final chapter summarizes and connects all of these ideas. The book's key points are illustrated by a bountiful array of stories from the 14 award-winning companies that were the basis of the research. This engaging book is filled with vital lessons for achieving GREAT service. Recommended. Reviewed by Gerry Stern, founder HRconsultant.com, author of Stern's Sourcefinder The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, the CyberSpace SourceFinder, and the Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder.
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Summary: Definitive guide for reliable consistent service delivery
Review: Consistently high-quality Service is simple conceptually. But it's difficult to ensure that customer experience it at all points of contact all the time - especially in large organizations with merger/acquisition activities. And, unfortunately, in your customers' minds you are only as strong as your weakest link .Len Berry's Discovering the Soul of Service explains, in the context of companies with sustained success, how reliable high-quality service delivery is designed, implemented and choreographed (anticipating and adapting in these change-ridden times). His extraordinary clarity comes from his 30 years' experience in service delivery research and study. No slogans here, just solid evidence and guidance.
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Summary: Service Champs
Review: Corporate research has become quite popular towards the end of the 20th Century, and Professor Berry has dome a masterful job of centering his on present day champs of the service sector. Amidst surprising and inspirational stories of these 14 top service companies, Berry weaves a compelling study of nine capacities that, apparently, guarantee the success of a service business. Many of the lessons parallel current business management advice, but a few transcend simple processes and get at the emotional environment that keeps employees and the company motivated about and focused clearly on the long-term success of the enterprise. A great read, this volume is indispensible for managers and owners of service businesses that intend to sustain longevity.
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Summary: This is a breakthrough book.....a must read!
Review: Dr. Berry has really delivered a gem for us about customer service. We are "hands-on" practioners at Stew Leonard's and this book breaks away from the crowded customer service field. Bravo to Dr. Berry for bringing theory to the streets!
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Summary: Flip to any page + read any paragraph + apply = $$$$$$$
Review: Dr. Len Berry keeps pushing the envelope of service. He is a master at presenting examples from his extensive research and combining them with valuable lessons for anyone who has a customer. To have "...Soul of Service" in a business you need people. Dr. Berry explores approaches of successful businesses that day-to-day touch the souls of their business. As a result these businesses satisfy their shareholders, their customers, and their employees. Read this book, get this equation right, profits will follow.
Rating:
Summary: Flip to any page + read any paragraph + apply = $$$$$$$
Review: Dr. Len Berry keeps pushing the envelope of service. He is a master at presenting examples from his extensive research and combining them with valuable lessons for anyone who has a customer. To have "...Soul of Service" in a business you need people. Dr. Berry explores approaches of successful businesses that day-to-day touch the souls of their business. As a result these businesses satisfy their shareholders, their customers, and their employees. Read this book, get this equation right, profits will follow.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic, if pleasing customers is on your agenda.
Review: Good, fun reading with a purpose. It gives you lots of insights as to how to differentiate yourself from others and how to try to position yourself so the client sees you how you want them to. Filled with great examples.
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Summary: The most inspiring journey in my 30-year academic career.
Review: I have devoted my entire career to studying companies that create value for customers primarily through performances, i.e., service companies. I've learned that sustaining success in a service business is even more difficult than achieving initial success. When the "product" is a performance it is tough to keep it going day after day, week after week, month after month. Yet, some service companies do sustain their excellence. Some companies do keep the human engine going at a high level of competence and commitment. How do they do it? To find out, I studied 14 incredible service companies that model sustainable success. The companies in my study range from local to worldwide operations. I examined these firms closely and the result is the most exciting discovery of my research career: the drivers of sustainable success in labor-intensive service businesses are common across the different businesses. The portraits of success sustainability for 14 distinct companies ranging from a supermarket chain to an airline to a quick-service restaurant company to a baseball team are virtually identical. DISCOVERING THE SOUL OF SERVICE is a book on the lessons 14 outstanding service companies teach about sustainable success. Researching and writing this book was an inspiring journey for me and I believe readers will find the book inspiring as well. Only time will tell whether this book makes the difference in the practice of management that I hope it will make. I am certain, however, that it is my best work, and this is an immensely satisfying feeling.
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Summary: Business success and sound values are not mutually exclusive
Review: In a world whose moral compass has gone awry, many would have us believe that business success and sound ethics and values are mutually exclusive. Discovering the Soul of Service is a moving and powerful book that blasts this theory to smithereens! Len Berry's new book has documented just the opposite - that values like respect and integrity are in fact at the core of sustainable business success. Discovering the Soul of Service will transform the way we think about creating and sustaining success.
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