Top Ten Quotes: The Customer Service Revolution
I first encountered John DiJulius in 2014 when I picked up a copy of Secret Service: Hidden Systems that Deliver Unforgettable Customer Service. It wasn’t exactly what I expected (DiJulius is a high-end salon owner, and I’ve never read a book by a salon owner, high-end or otherwise), but I was immediately hooked by his writing style and his passion for a great guest experience.
That’s why I was excited to add The Customer Service Revolution: Overthrow Conventional Business, Inspire Employees, and Change the World to my summer reading list. It didn’t disappoint. If you lead out in guest services in any capacity, you need to read this book. (And my normal disclaimer…if you’re in church world and the word “customer” bothers you, know that there are plenty of parallels we can draw and principles to discover. No, your congregation is not a customer base. But still: read and learn.)
Here are my top ten favorite quotes:
- Genuine hospitality is not something you do; it is something that is in you.
- Regardless of your company’s size, you need to have someone who loses sleep at night over the Customer and how every department and all employee training affects the Customer’s experience.
- Build your company’s Customer experience as if no Customer has bad intentions.
- Remove “policy” from your employees’ vocabulary. This has become such a big issue, a crutch that reduces employees’ Service Aptitude and causes them to sometimes make horrible decisions because they are afraid of going against “company policy.”
- Something significant happens to a person when they feel cared for. They may not realize it at the time, but they want that feeling again.
- “No problem” is a problem for two reasons. The first issue with saying “no problem” is that it consists of two negative words. We shouldn’t be using any negative words, let alone two back-to-back. The second problem is that the “no problem” auto-response sends the message that what the Customer is asking of you is not a problem for you. However, when we are serving others, it is not about our convenience; it is about what the Customer wants.
- “If you are encouraging your employees to say something nice to each Customer, isn’t that a little unauthentic?” Not at all. What I am trying to do is get my employees not to be so “transaction focused” and be aware of things they should be noticing.
- Secret Service systems should not add cost or complexity to your organization. Secret Service systems are what we call low-hanging fruit.
- Whatever your mind is thinking is what will be noticed. That is why Customer intelligence tools that you see constantly when interacting with Customers are excellent ways to prime employees’ minds to notice and hear things they wouldn’t have otherwise.
- I love the term “aggressively friendly,” which I use to refer to an employee who seeks eye contact and smiles from long distances.
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