We all say that we love our customers and always do the best we can for them. Of course we do! Our “customer satisfaction” scores are high!
Jeffrey Gitomer’s customer service manifesto Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty Is Priceless teaches exactly why the “satisfaction” mindset is a lie and why customer loyalty is what matters to your long-term business success.
Loyalty is What Counts
Anyone can be satisfied with your business or product. That doesn’t guarantee that they will become repeat customers. Nor does that mean they will refer their friends and family to you.
Satisfaction is truly worthless as this book’s title boldly proclaims. Your business needs loyal, faithful, and referral-generating customers.
Story Telling
This book is written in Gitomer’s usual style with untraditional font styles and sizes scattered around for emphasis. He shares numerous stories of his customer service experiences and then extracts the best practices and ideas for improving your interactions with customers.
“Wow” Experience
Gitomer, as a customer, is always on the hunt for a “wow” experience. Does your business simply process customers as just another number? Or do you make each interaction a personal and memorable one?
Self Evaluation
Customer Satisfaction is Worthless has multiple self-tests and checklists where you can measure your current level of customer service. These offer great opportunities to identify areas of improvement. Most of the author’s suggestions are things you, as an individual, can do and they don’t require a big bureaucratic change to implement.
Company Policy
One point Gitomer makes that really resonated with me concerned company policies. Do you hide behind company policies so you can avoid doing something for a customer? Your company will always have policies but you don’t have to simply state “sorry, that is against company policy.” Instead, use: “in order to be fair to every one…” The latter is a much gentler approach that may very well diffuse a heated customer exchange.
Joe’s Recommendation
Buy a Copy – Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty Is Priceless is a must-read for your business. If you interact with customers in any way (which odds are you do), you need to read this book.
Buy Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty Is Priceless on Amazon.com.