Introduction

      A Brief (But Necessary) History of Customer Service

      I started thinking about this book a couple of years ago. After examining my own experiences as an independent entrepreneur, teaching at DePaul University in Chicago, and years of consulting, I began to see clear patterns emerge between leadership behavior and organizations that provide great customer service. I recognized that some organizations seemed to expend a lot of energy and focus in order to offer exceptional customer service, while others did not. This isn’t a revolutionary observation, but I decided to dig a little deeper to find out what makes those “best in class” organizations tick. I dug so deep, in fact, that I wound up with this book, which showcases nine “best in class” companies and outlines the core principles their leaders have adopted to encourage and nurture great service.

      I have spent most of my life working in the hospitality sector, and my career has taken me across the country. I began as a line cook and restaurant manager in New York City and eventually owned several restaurants in Chicago. I have known, worked with, or worked for some of the most respected leaders in the culinary industry. Perhaps more importantly, I grew up in an entrepreneurial home where taking care of your customer was emphasized from an early age. In many ways, I learned about customer service the “old school” way—by watching my father.

      Of course, great customer service can be defined in many ways. From my perspective, it involves three key stakeholders: employees, customers, and shareholders. These are not unique components in any service company, but as our workforce begins to transition and more millennials assume positions of responsibility, organizational leadership is at an inflection point. The leaders profiled in this book realize this, and it’s no coincidence that they focus so strongly on employees when talking about their vision for excellence. For this new generation, the old top-down management structure no longer provides the workplace satisfaction that it might have in years past. As a result, new leaders are changing the workplace dynamic in an effort to capture the hearts and minds of their employees and, ultimately, their customers.

      And, as you will see, the employees of these organizations are not only engaged but also stimulated by their work. This synergy between a new management structure and employee engagement leads to remarkable results: consistently profitable companies with reputations for exceptional customer service and a cohort of employees who rank their organizations in the top tier of places to work in North America. The leaders profiled in this book exhibit clear patterns of belief, behavior, and purpose. Some are “Evangelists”—true believers who have organized their companies down to the smallest detail in an effort to ensure that each aspect of operations offers employees and guests alike a consistent experience. Others are “Transformers”—leaders who recognize that the workplace is changing and that their organizations need to meet the future head-on, with eyes wide open. Last, but not least, there are “Pragmatists”—leaders who recognize and embrace changes in the employee population and the workplace culture in order to deliver quality to their customers. Regardless of their paths, these leaders share a consistent message, which is that certain core values must be present for outstanding customer service to be delivered. These values are accountability, authenticity, culture, community, and vision.

      Creating an organization that champions customer service not just in words but in deeds is hard work—there’s no app for that. Yet, the leaders in this book have all developed systems to ensure that customers are not only treated well but, equally if not more importantly, employees are too—many even better than the customers.

      Whether they consciously know it or not, many of the tools these leaders employ incorporate well-established tactics, some of which have existed for centuries as part of the hospitality sector of the service economy. Only as the workplace has slowly transformed in the past twenty to thirty years, have we started see these hospitality traits manifest themselves more commonly in other industries. Leaders in every industry who have embraced these tools have created organizations that differentiate themselves from the pack.

      Of course, we all know there are no “perfect” leaders or companies. The strategies used by the leaders in this book will not apply to every company, and you may relate to some of the anecdotes more than others. Still, despite any shortcomings, this book illustrates how to move forward on a path that embraces a new generation of employees looking for meaning, authenticity, and a sense of community within the workplace. For these employees and their leaders, dedication to outstanding customer service may not be a religion, but it certainly could be a substitute for it.

It All Starts with Hospitality, Baby

      No One Said It Was Going to Be Easy

      Consider this: over 80 percent of the United States workforce is part of the service economy (United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment by Major Industry Sector, 2016, most current available data).

Yet, most businesses spend only marginal time and resources to help frontline employees understand and appreciate the value of excellent customer service. While an organization may have clearly defined customer service training plans, we’ve all experienced enough varying levels of “service” to know that excellence is not easily taught or achieved. Moreover, despite overwhelming evidence of the economic value of high-quality customer service, according to the 2017 NICE in Contact CX Transformation Benchmark Study, there is an 18 percent gap between company and customer perceptions of service quality.1 And given that happy customers are loyal customers, this raises an important question: Can a company afford the gap between customer perception and the quality of its service?

      I believe the answer to that question is a fairly straightforward no. However, providing consistent service excellence is hard. Really hard, in fact. It’s not that companies don’t want to offer good service. But without a dedicated, consistent organizational approach, it’s not going to happen. We’ve all experienced poor service from organizations within the hospitality sector—the very industry where good service is the very product that is being purchased. So how much can we really expect from an accountant or a telecom company? Add to the mix the fact that the new, younger workforce is unlikely to intuitively understand how to execute hospitality excellence, and you have a recipe for disaster.

      According to the 2017 American Express Customer Service Barometer, more than seven out of ten respondents claim they spend more money with a company that delivers great service—and you, like me, may very well be one of these seven. Similarly, nine out of ten people claim that they would pay more to ensure superior service (Customer Experience Impact Report, Harris Interactive, 2010). The data shows that there is a direct link between an investment in hospitality training and profitability. So, what’s the problem?

      To start, we need to understand the word hospitality and why its meaning extends far beyond your meal at a local restaurant or a hotel stay. There is an equation that describes the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction:

      Hospitality = Empathy + Action

      Now, substitute the word “hospitality” for “service quality” and you can start to see the point. I spoke with Susan Salgado, founder and