In this book, the authors make the case that providing enough self-help tools to your customers and removing the root causes for why they contact support in the first place will decrease the need for service; hence the full title of the book. They also press the idea that traditional service metrics and methodologies are tired and don't meet the needs of customers.

The book provides a number of examples of companies that have done well, and not so well, in providing Best Service. On the negative side, they show how outdated and frustrating practices decrease satisfaction. Those companies that have done well have all made themselves easy to reach using as many channels as possible. Additionally, they have adopted cultures that embrace the ideal that the customer experience is the responsibility of everyone in the company.

There were a number of very quotable passages in the book. Some of my favorites include:

"The first challenge in trying to achieve Best Service is convincing the company that it's possible and worthwhile.

[Yet,] despite our efforts to achieve Best Service, no company will ever get there."

"The most radical and far-reaching solutions often need rethinking of processes and deep questioning of the status quo-and these are hard."

"Many service departments are so busy fighting fires-trying to hire enough people to get the work done or dealing with the next product or system launch- that there appears to be no time to stand back and ask why this activity exists today. The answer to that problem is that you need to make time."

I'm looking forward to discussing the book's ideas with colleagues to see how we can implement them. ( )

This is a tremendous book laying out a systematic approach for better customer service. Predicated on the idea that customers want your product to "just work" and that they DON'T want a "relationship" with you, it challenges many of the customer service practices in most companies. The authors lay out a process with a number of steps:
- Challenge demand for service don't just cope with it. Act smarter so that the amount of support your customers need goes down
- Eliminate "dumb" contacts and stupid repeated contacts through better processes and information
- Create engaging self-service so people can help themselves
- Be Proactive, don't wait for trouble
- Make it easy to contact you, not difficult
- Fix ownership of problems so that you can fix them, not just blame on them on the customer service group
- Listen to your customers and learn from what they tell you
- Delight your customers when they do need help
The authors lay out a cure for the remote, impersonal organization where no-one in management ever talks to real customers. Any organization that has customer service "issues" could benefit from this book. ( )