Berry - Discovering the Soul of Service: The Nine Drivers of Sustainable Business Success

More Praise for Discovering the Soul of Service

Another Len Berry classic that every service company executive should read. This book definitely will be on the reading list for the Chapters team.

Lawrence N. Stevenson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Chapters, Inc.

Len Berry gets it. Customers count. Insightful lessons from a real student of business.

L. Daniel Jorndt, Chief Executive Officer, Walgreen Company

A road map for overcoming the maladies of complacency, overconfidence, and arrogance that often accompany success. In addition, it?s a great read.

James L. Heskett, UPS Foundation Professor of Business Administration Emeritus, Harvard Business School

This well-written book demonstrates Berrys passion for service excellence. Ive closely followed his pioneering work, and this is his best book!

Stephen W. Brown, Edward M. Carson Chair in Services Marketing, Arizona State University

Demonstrates compellingly that the nine drivers of excellence can be implemented across a wide variety of businesses.

Philip S. Orsino, President and Chief Executive Officer, Premdor, Inc.

A refreshing and insightful view of service, particularly the emphasis on humane values and their vital importance to achieving excellence in service companies.

Denise Ilitch, Vice Chairwoman, Little Caesar Enterprises, Inc.

OTHER BOOKS BY LEONARD L. BERRY

ON GREAT SERVICE: A FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION

MARKETING SERVICES: COMPETING THROUGH QUALITY

DELIVERING QUALITY SERVICE: BALANCING CUSTOMER PERCEPTIONS AND EXPECTATIONS

SERVICE QUALITY: A PROFIT STRATEGY FOR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

BANKERS WHO SELL: IMPROVING SELLING EFFECTIVENESS IN BANKING

MARKETING FINANCIAL SERVICES: A STRATEGIC VISION

BANKING TOMORROW: MANAGING MARKETS THROUGH PLANNING

MARKETING FOR BANKERS

THE FREE PRESS
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Copyright 1999 by Leonard L. Berry

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THE FREE PRESS and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.

ISBN 0-684-83086-8
eISBN: 978-0-684-83086-5

This book is dedicated with love to my wife, Nancy; to my sons, Matthew and Jonathan; to my mother, Mae Berry; and to the memory of my father, Abe Berry.

Researching and writing this book has been an inspiring journey. I am a career-long student of services management and marketing, and this book afforded me the opportunity to closely study 14 of the best service companies in the world. Visiting and conducting interviews at these companies, gathering and studying considerable background material, observing and using their services whenever possible, developing a conceptual framework for the book from the field research, and weaving together lessons from the companies with secondary research and my own base of knowledge was a powerful experience. Ive learned more from this project than any other in a 30-year professional career, and today I feel blessed by the opportunity and grateful to the many people who have helped me.

Only time will tell whether this book makes the difference in the practice of management that I hope it will make. I am certain, however, that it is my best work, and this is an immensely satisfying feeling.

I am eternally grateful to the leaders of the 14 companies featured in this book for their cooperation, their assistance, and, most of all, their trust. These companies allowed me to speak with whom I wanted to speak, to see what I wanted to see, to go where I wanted to go. They cooperated with numerous follow-up requests for information and additional interviews after the field research. They not only allowed me inside their doors, they allowed me inside their cultures.

I am indebted to the more than 250 individuals listed in the appendix who participated in interviews and candidly shared their ideas and experiences. The pages that follow are filled with their stories and quotes. At each company, a few people went to great lengths to support my research, and I acknowledge them here:

• Dick Bergstrom, John Bergstrom, and Steve TyinkBergstrom Corporation
• David Pottruck, Mark Thompson, and Nancy MitchellThe Charles Schwab Corporation
• Dan Cathy, Steve Robinson, and Linda McEntireChick-fil-A
• Garrett Boone, Kip Tindell, Sharon Tindell, Barbara Anderson, Nancy Donley, and Melissa ReiffThe Container Store
• Judy Corson and Jeff PopeCustom Research Inc.
• Ed Shultz and Bruce MullkoffDana Commercial Credit
• Napoleon Barragan and Jennifer GrassanoDial-A-Mattress
• Andy Taylor, Dick Janicki, Joanne Peratis-Weber, and Christy ConradEnterprise Rent-A-Car
• Tim Hoeksema, Tamara McClelland, and Brenda SkeltonMidwest Express Airlines
• Bix Norman and Gary Van SpronsenMiller SQA
• Sven-Olof Lindblad, Margaret Hart, and Tom OBrienSpecial Expeditions
• Mike Veeck and Jody BeaulieuSt. Paul Saints
• Bob Ukrop and Bob KelleyUkrops Super Markets, Inc.
• Bill Cooney, Paul Ringenbach, and John WalmsleyUSAA

It really is quite amazing how much effort goes into producing a product as small as a book. To create this product, I was ably assisted by members of the book team:

• Sandi Scamardo, a marketing doctoral student at Texas A&M University, who has participated in every phase of the project, including assisting with the field and secondary research and preparing exhibits and tables. Sandi has added interview note-taking wizardry, a keen eye for detail, library research acumen, and mastery of Adobe Illustrator software to the efforts of the team.
• Shirley Bovey, communications coordinator at the Center for Retailing Studies, who moonlighted to provide skillful, sensitive editorial assistance. This is my third book on which Shirley has assisted.
• Glenda Bessler, my administrative assistant of more than 12 years whose wonderfully active life will calm just a bit with the books completion. Glenda helped immeasurably in arranging the company visits, typing the manuscript, and chasing down details. This is the fifth book Glenda has helped me prepare for publication.
• A. Parsu Parasuraman, a chaired marketing professor at The University of Miami and my best friend, closest professional colleague, and research collaborator of many years, who read drafts of each chapter and provided many helpful suggestions.
• Kathleen Seiders, an assistant professor of marketing at Babson College, my former doctoral student, and a very close friend, who also read chapter drafts and provided constructive comments.
• Robert Wallace, senior editor at The Free Press, who is a strong supporter of my work and a sage advisor. With a long record of publishing achievement, Bob Wallace is known as one of the best business book editors in America. This is my fourth book under his watchful eye.

I also wish to thank my colleagues at the Center for Retailing Studies for their support and encouragement: Lucy Morgan, Cindy Billington, Holly Clark, Shirley Bovey, and Dave Szymanski. P. Varadarajan, the head of the marketing department at Texas A&M, is a wonderful friend and colleague who did everything possible to protect my time so I could complete the book on schedule. Dino Battista, vice president, director of professional and academic marketing at Simon & Schuster, is a creative marketing force and an authors friend. I appreciate his efforts on my behalf as I do the assistance of other talented Free Press executives and professional staff, including Paula Duffy, Suzanne Donahue, Jaime Ariza, Maria Arteta, Maureen Kelly, Paul OHalloran, Caryn-Amy King, Iris Cohen, Edith Lewis, and Tom Stvan. Special thanks go also to freelance copyeditor Linnea Johnson, who worked on my prior two books and whom I specifically requested for this book.