Bell Chip R. - Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service

At Stew Leonards, creating happy customers is cornerstone to what we do. Through Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service, authors Chip Bell and Ron Zemke have for years been teaching leaders how to create environments that not only satisfy the customer, but keep those customers coming back time and time again.

Stew Leonard, Jr., CEO

Stew Leonards Dairy Stores

A practical, comprehensive, fast-paced, and wise book from two of the pioneering writers on service quality.

Leonard Berry, Ph.D., best-selling author

Management Lessons from Mayo Clinic and

Discovering the Soul of Service

If youre a business leader and you havent read this book, you likely wont be a leader for long! I read the book (couldn't really offer an opinion unless I did) and it's a great read!

Bryce Conrad

President and Chief Executive Officer/

Prsident et chef de la direction

Hydro Ottawa Holding, Inc.

I enthusiastically endorsed the first edition of this great book. This brand new, updated edition is even betterinsightful, hands-on, timely, and provocative.

John Longstreet, President and CEO

Quaker Steak and Lube Restaurants

In cyberspace or face to face, Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service will give you the insight and the edge to make customers loyal, profitable, and willing to spread the word. Not just a service leadership book for today, a book for the next decade. Bell and Zemke get it and deliver it.

Jeffrey Gitomer, best-selling author

Customer Satisfaction is Worthless,

Customer Loyalty is Priceless

Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service contains powerful secrets for leading an organization that grows loyal customers.

Thomas Millner, President

Cabelas

Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service gets two thumbs up, three likes, and five stars! A must-read for all customer-focused leaders.

M.E. Castillo, CEO

Arbor Company

Este libro es sin duda una excelente herramienta que permite a los lderes empresariales alinear su estrategia de negocio, centrndola en el cliente, que es el verdadero xito en cualquier negocio. (This book is an excellent tool to help managers align their thought processes to be able to structure a successful customer-centric business.)

Juan Carlos Arguello, CEO

Banco de Finanzas (Nicaragua)

Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service is a powerful source of insights, ideas, and action plans that will lead your team to uplifting service!

Ron Kaufman, New York Times best-selling author

Uplifting Service

In an era where organizations must seek new ways to differentiate themselves, Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service is an uplifting and compelling reminder of the impact a well-defined culture has on the bottom line.

Lani Hayward, EVP of Creative Strategies

Umpqua Bank

Consistently excellent service is only as good as it is deliberately managed. Bell and Zemke masterfully guide how to accomplish this feat with distinction.

Jeanne Bliss, best-selling author

Chief Customer Officer and

I Love You More Than My Dog

The authors give valuable insightsbacked up with case studieson how to turn every customer into a customer for life.

Entrepreneur Magazine

A lively and timely book written for anyone who deals with customers.

Jane Applegate, nationally syndicated columnist

3rd Edition

By Chip R. Bell and Ron Zemke

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bell, Chip R.

Managing knock your socks off service / Chip R. Bell and Ron Zemke.Third Edition.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8144-3204-4

ISBN-10: 0-8144-3204-4

1. Customer services. I. Zemke, Ron. II. Title.

HF5415.5.B436 2013

658.8' 12dc23

2012034663

MANAGING KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF SERVICE is a registered trademark of Performance Research Associates, Inc.

Customer ForensicsTMis a service mark or registered service mark of Chip R. Bell, 2013.

2013 Chip R. Bell and Performance Research Associates.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.

Artwork John Bush.

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Printing number

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Has customer service gotten worse, or have we just become a nation of gripers and whiners?

My father was a big fan of the comic strip Mutt and Jeff. His favorite had Mutt and Jeff enjoying a bit of verbal sparring. If everyone saw like I did, boasted Jeff, Everyone would want my wife. If everyone saw like I did, quipped Mutt, No one would want your wife.

It was my first lesson on the eye of the beholder side of understanding relationships and human experiences. So, when someone asked me the question at the top of the page, I thought about my dads favorite joke.

Remember the scene in the movie Back to the Future when a customer pulls into a gas station circa the 1950s and two squeaky clean attendants cheerfully wash the windshield and carefully check the engine fluids? Audiences laughed at the obvious spoof.

Was that great customer service? I dont remember thinking that it was back in the 50s and 60s. It was just neighborly care by local employees with the luxury of being able to serve one customer at a time. They worked for an enterprise with reasonably healthy profit margins, friendly competitors, and freedom from having to deal with litigious consumers, restrictive regulations, or impatient shareholders. They served customers with limited choices, modest expectations, and fewer time constraints.