Rick Conlow - Superstar Customer Service: A 31-Day Plan to Improve Client Relations, Lock in New Customers, and Keep the Best Ones Coming Back for More

Superstar Customer Service

A 31-DAY PLAN TO IMPROVE CLIENT RELATIONS,
LOCK IN NEW CUSTOMERS, AND KEEP THE BEST
ONES COMING BACK FOR MORE

RICK CONLOW
and
DOUG WATSABAUGH

Copyright 2014 by Rick Conlow and Doug Watsabaugh

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher, The Career Press.

SUPERSTAR CUSTOMER SERVICE
EDITED BY JODI BRANDON
TYPESET BY EILEEN MUNSON
Cover design by Jeff Piasky
Printed in the U.S.A.

To order this title, please call toll-free 1-800-CAREER-1 (NJ and Canada: 201-848-0310) to order using VISA or MasterCard, or for further information on books from Career Press.

The Career Press, Inc.
220 West Parkway, Unit 12
Pompton Plains, NJ 07444
www.careerpress.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Conlow, Rick.

Superstar customer service : a 31-day plan to improve client relations, lock in new customers, and keep the best ones coming back for more / Rick Conlow, Doug Watsabaugh.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-60163-276-0 (pbk.) -- ISBN 978-1-60163-518-1 (ebook) 1. Customer services. 2. Customer relations. I. Watsabaugh, Doug, 1951- II. Title.

HF5415.5.C654 2014

958.812--dc23

2013036050

Whats My Job? Whats Expected of
Me? Why Am I Important?

The Difference Between Good Service
and Superstar Service

What You Should Expect From Your Boss, and What
to Do When Your Boss Doesnt Do What You Expect

You Are Going to Have to Gotta
Wanna Lead Yourself to Success

Etiquette on the Phone, in Electronic
Communications, and Face-to-Face

How Superstar Customer Service and
Superstar Sales Go Together

You Are Going to Hear About It, So You May as
Well Make It Work for You, Not Against You

Why We Need to Do More Than Just
What It Takes to Get By

Customer Service Slip-Ups: What to
Do When It Isnt Working

Afterword: Action-Planning and Goal
Setting for Superstar Success

Superstar Customer Service is the third in a three part series focused on Superstar Performance written by Rick Conlow and Doug Watsabaugh of WCW Partners. The books are published by Career Press and are aimed straight at achieving the highest levels of performance in leadership, sales, and customer service.

WCW Partners has been in the consulting business for nearly two decades and has consistently proven that we are all capable of achieving unlimited possibilities if we believe in ourselves and if we continuously seek new skills and knowledge. In the March 1, 2013, issue of Inc. magazine, Kevin Daum wrote an article entitled 10 Things Really Amazing Employees Do. In his article, Daum describes 10 very insightful things employees can do to help a business succeed, and then he offers guidance on what management can do to help. We like that Daum addressed himself directly to the employees and described the very important role that they play in making a business successful. And, he provided guidance to the leadership on what they need to do to facilitate the success of the employees. Our approach is similar. Here is the premise behind Superstar Customer Service.

This book is written to help front-line employees realize you can be a Superstar customer service provider. You may have one of the most demanding and difficult jobs youll ever have and, even then, it has the potential to make you a Superstar!

Develop your skills, manage yourself, and master your ability to address the relationship problems experienced by your company, and you can go anywhere you want to go. Job satisfaction, success, and personal accomplishment are all in your grasp. This book is organized as a month-long journey of improvement and discovery. Each chapter is a daily lesson with a core concept, skill development idea, and resources to support your practice and application of the lesson. If you read and use this book, you will improve your ability to provide Superstar service in your company. You will distinguish yourself as someone who can get things done, and you may very well begin a new pathway in your career success that is far beyond anything that you have previously imagined! There are several ways you can use this book:

1. Read it alone and use it as a seminar in a box. Use the tools, the Superstar Customer Service Self-Assessment, and the Interpretation and Action Planning Guide, and the application and development planning tools to build your skills and mastery leading to increasing success.

2. Read it with your team. Many leadership teams that we work with read books and discuss them together much as a book club would do. Their purpose it to deepen their understanding and application of leadership skills and knowledge together for the benefit of the business. You can offer Superstar Customer Service as a team learning tool with your supervisor and service team. By reading a daily concept and discussing it as a team, you can support one anothers development and improve your teams skills together.

3. Superstar Customer Service can be used as a seminar or training program, facilitated by a professional trainer or by a service manager. The program can be broken into a 31-day offering, or the content can be grouped into weekly sessions, each covering five to seven daily lessons with a review discussion as the next weeks session begins.

4. The daily lessons can be used as content to start or end regular staff meetings so that the department manager facilitates ongoing training over a series of 31 meetings covering a time span chosen by the manager.

5. Many teams are geographically dispersed across the United States or across the world. It is challenging to maintain a common focus and consistent message when huge distances separate us. Superstar Customer Service can be used to offer and reinforce a common set of skills and a common culture of service throughout your service network. Whether offered during a web conference or teleconference, Superstar Customer Service can be used to offer a short content message, followed by an individual follow-through assignment from each participants individual copy of the book.

There are many other ways you may find this book useful. First and foremost, we encourage you to read it, get involved with it, and apply it to your job and your life. We are certain that you will find it beneficial in your current job and in support of your long-term career direction. We wish you success on your journey and we hope to read about your Superstar service success in the future.

P.S.: We want thank our partner and communication specialist Alyssa MacDowell for her invaluable and tireless efforts in helping us write, edit, and improve this book. She is a true superstar!

Customer service is just a day in, day