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Book Recommendation: Exceptional Customer Service: Going Beyond Your Good Service to Exceed the Customer’s Expectation by Lisa Ford, David McNair, and Bill Perry 

Customer service can make or break your business. This is true for all types of businesses, not just brick and mortar. If you have an Internet business and you neglect your readers then you will lose them as surely as if you didn’t help them in a traditional store.

Unfortunately, great customer service is the exception, not the norm. I have never understood why. I was often commended on my customer service skills in the ten years I worked retail. If I can do this then anyone can.

So why isn’t amazing customer service normal? I think that most employees have so much to do that they feel they don’t have time to go the extra mile. But that is backwards. Customer service should come first. Without customers nothing else you do will matter. So how can we give our customers great service without neglecting our other jobs? Read “Exceptional Customer Service” for the answers.

This is an action book. Each chapter explains something you can do now to improve your business’s customer service. From the first impression to the closing sale the authors walk you through all the different ways you can serve the customer. They even discuss how to give great customer service over the phone, an area that is often neglected. The most important part of this book is the urgency of the message. You should be improving your customer service daily. Don’t wait until you finish reading this book. You should also work daily to make sure your customer service never slips. In this day of social networking it only takes one customer having one bad experience to impact your business.

What I love about this book is that it emphasizes that customer service is not a chore. You should want to give exceptional customer service. Most businesses exist to serve their customers. If your heart is in your business then your heart should be in the service you give your customers.