Customer Service For Dummies

In today's highly competitive environment, good products and good marketing aren't enough. To succeed, you also need great customer service. Quality service touches our lives in two important ways: the service we give and the service we receive.

Customer Service For Dummies, 2nd Edition, brims with hot tips, techniques, and lots of suggestions for giving your customers the kind of service that you yourself would like to receive. This down-to-earth, step-by-step guide fills you in on ways to

• Take stock of your customer service strengths and weaknesses
• Commit to continuous improvement
• Work your way through modern-day e-mail and Internet etiquette
• Foster positive face-to-face and telephone service
• Deal with the unhappy folks among your customers

Packed with practical advice for getting through the everyday challenges at work, Customer Service For Dummies, 2nd Edition, shows you how to develop your staff so that they become service heroes to their customers. This insightful resource also gives you the goods on

• Keeping your sanity when angry customers confront you with clenched fists or wrinkled foreheads
• Saying "No" nicely: Focusing on what you can do for the customer
• Tuning into body language and vocal tone
• Knowing the importance of both internal and external customers
• Achieving gold-level service at bronze-level cost
• Improving market share – whether the company's big, small, or in between
• Becoming a better customer by expressing yourself in style

Although customer service basics seem so much like common sense – smile, say please, and say thank you – these gestures alone won't begin to satisfy every situation. Once you expand your definition of service, reconsider who your customers are, and develop a customer-friendly attitude, you'll be in the right place to meet your customers' expectations – and right on time to make a pleasingly positive impression!

Karen Leland and Keith Bailey are cofounders of Sterling Consulting Group, an international consulting firm specializing in quality service consulting and training. Clients include Oracle, IBM, Avis, and Lucent.