Introduction 1
Forearmed Is Forewarmed 2
A Light Touch at Just the Right Time 3
Saying Your Business Is "On the Internet" Is Like Saying It's "On the Power Grid" 4
All You Need to Know in a Rhyming Nutshell 5
Homeward Bound 6
Where Tech Makes Loyalty Easier 7
How This Book Is Organized 8
Part 1 Timeliness and Timelessness 9
Chapter 1 Today's Changed Customer: Making Lovemaking Difficult 11
The Most Crucial Customer "Trends" Today Are Individual Changes 12
Customer Trend #1: Customers Expect Anticipatory Technological Behavior and Aggregated Information-Instantly 12
Customer Trend #2: Shame Shift and Values-Based Buying 14
Customer Trend #3: Timelessness over Trendiness 15
Customer Trend #4: Customer Empowerment 16
Customer Trend #5: The Greening of the Customer 17
Customer Trend #6: The Desire for Self-Service 18
"And Your Point Is?" 19
Chapter 2 The Customer Remains the Same: Everything That Isn't New Under the Sun 21
Providing Value: As Easy as 1, 2 … 4 22
A Perfect Product or Service 22
Delivered in a Caring, Friendly Manner 23
In a Timely Fashion 25
… Backed Up by an Effective Problem-Resolution Process 26
"And Your Point Is?" 30
Chapter 3 Timeless Customer Service Done Right-and Wrong: Mastery Versus Catastrophe 32
The Masterful Company 32
A Cameo of Catastrophe: Timeless Service Done Tragically Wrong 40
"And Your Point Is?" 45
Part 2 High-Tech, High-Touch Anticipatory Customer Service 47
Chapter 4 A Google of Apples a Day: The Art of Anticipation in the Modern World of Customer Service 49
The Apple Store Experience 50
From Cradle to Credit Card 53
A Tale of Two Installs 53
Bringing It All Back Home 57
"Attaching" Yourself to Customers: Gmail and More 58
"And Your Point Is?" 61
Chapter 5 Anticipatory Customer Service: Your Culture 63
The Curse of the Short-Term Focus 64
Consciously Building a Company Culture: Why Bother? 66
You Can't Out-Pixar Pixar-But Here's What You Can Do 69
Cultural Friends with Benefits 70
Cultural Fit, Oddballs, and When Not to Hire 71
Positive Peer Pressure: The Double Significance of Every Hiring Decision 72
Vendors: Partners, Not Poison 74
Spelling Out How You Treat Customers, Vendors, and Employees 75
How to Get Started Building Your Core 76
The Best Time to Start? Now. 77
Buy-in or Highwayin' 79
Your Core Values Are Just the Start-But They Are a Start 79
Culture Meets the Larger World 81
How This Plays Out in a Pinch: Southwest's Culture Saves a Service Dog 82
"And Your Point Is?" 83
Chapter 6 Anticipatory Customer Service: Your People 86
A Wet Dog at Petco 88
Supernatural Selection 89
Trial by Hire 90
"Fit" and Its Pitfalls 91
"And Your Point Is?" 93
Chapter 7 Sangria, Sippy Cups, and Jesse Ventura: Autonomy Versus Standards 95
Patting Down Jesse Ventura 96
The Case for Autonomy in Customer Service Work 98
The Need for Standards 101
Standards and Autonomy: The Hybrid Path 102
Pour Lion and PEPI 105
Conveying Standards-And Maintaining Autonomy 106
"And Your Point Is?" 107
Part 3 The Rise of Self-Service and Social Media-And Other Seismic Shifts 109
Chapter 8 The Rise of Self-Service: A Boon to Your Customers-But Only If You Do It Right 111
Awarding Myself the Mobile Prize 111
Principles of Successful Self-Service 115
"And Your Point Is?" 119
Chapter 9 Technological Change and Disabled Customers: A True Opportunity, If You Avoid the Missteps 121
There's More to Ramping Up than Putting Ramps Up: A Variety of Issues and Solutions 121
Wynn Some 125
"And Your Point Is?" 126
Chapter 10 Shoulder Your Customer's Burden (and Make Sure You're Not Adding to It!) 127
Stupid Stuff 127
Stupid Is as … I Forget 128
Get to Them First 132
Where Are the Opportunities to Get to Them First? 133
Permission to Anticipate 136
The Specific Medium Is the Message-And Its Only Chance of Getting Through 139
"And Your Point Is?" 140
Chapter 11 Anti-Social Media: Fears and Hazards of the New Landscape 142
Bicycle Pumps and Veterinarians 142
Regime Change in 140 Characters 143
Ouch: The First Time They Talk About You 143
Nobody Uses Twitter to Tell a Friend His Fly's Undone 144
Social Media Is Not a Disease 146
A Story That Almost Became a Viral Tweet 146
"And Your Point Is?" 148
Chapter 12 Social Service: Principles for Social Media Customer Service 149
Principle #1: Avoid the Fiasco Formula: A Digital Stitch in Time Saves Nine (Million) 150
Principle #2: Lie Back and Think of England: Digital Arguments with Customers Are an Exponentially Losing Proposition 150
Principle #3: Turn Twankers into Thankers: Reach Out Directly to Online Complainers 151
Principle #4: Consider Getting a Complainer on the Telephone (with Permission)-Even if the Relationship Started in Social Media Land 154
Principle #5: Get Happy Outcomes into the Public Eye 155
Principle #6: Use Social Media and Personal Email to Make Your Customers Feel Important 155
Principle #7: Monitor 156
Principle #8: If Your Social Media Responses Are Inferior to-Or Not Integrated with-Your Other Channels, They're Hurting Your Brand 157
"And Your Point Is?" 158
Chapter 13 Listening: Your Ears Are Your Most Important Technology 160
Only One Perspective That Matters 160
Sanctuary Much: The S.M.A.R.T. Approach to the Human Force Field 162
Using Electronic Systems to Enhance Your Listening 165
It's All About Listening-And It Starts by Opening Yourself to Hearing 169
The Maytag Repairman Lets You Slap Him in the Facebook 169
Break It to Ourselves More Gently 172
Surveying the Landscape 173
"And Your Point Is?" 175
Notes 179
Index 191