The Kindness Revolution

By Ed Horrell

Too often a customer meets indifference when dealing with a company. Staff are there to be paid wages rather than satisfy customer wishes. They do what is necessary not what is desirable. Furthermore, they are frequently unable to handle requests that are even a small departure from the norm and not empowered so solve customer problems. Frequently this is an attitude that comes from the top of the company. Management has become "divorced" from the shopfloor and sees customers either as incoming cash or, worse still, problems that the business faces. The customer stays with the business until he or she becomes dissatisfied or is provided with a better offer.

The alternative, according to Ed Horrell, is to own the customer. This is not just about providing a better product although a poor product would not help gain ownership of the customer, but to provide exceptional service. Customers are people but too few businesses realise this and appreciate that delivering exceptional customer service will help them to own the customer. A narrow-minded business, that is the management, may focus on saving money but having genuinely satisfied customers will end up cheaper than consistently having to recruit new customers.

Horrell presents a series of ideas that can help to deliver the exceptional customer service. These are based on real companies including the ubiquitous Ritz Carlton Hotels and Federal Express. These two examples may already be fairly well-known but they do illustrate the point well. Other examples are smaller organisations, often local to the author. The fact that they may be unknown to anyone outside the area is not relevant. The lessons are still there.

One case study does not appear to fit in terms of customer service. A chicken chain called Chick-Fil-A is a good example how a company can put its (its founder's) values ahead of profits. Why this may be commendable, especially if you share the values, it is actually an example of poor customer service. Any business that is closed when customers could wish to come into the outlet is putting its own (selfish) values ahead of the needs of its customers. This will clearly hit revenue and profits but it can also affect customer loyalty.

Overall, this is an inspirational book and makes one want to develop a more customer-focused organisation. It may not be so easy in practice and, of course, the trick is being able to convince management to put customers first. Too many organisations do not empower their employees or they are understaffed meaning that even the most-willing and best-trained staff will find it difficult to deliver quality customer service.

Published by Amacom 2007

Review by Martin Payne