Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM DECEMBER 2015 14 A respected customer service fanatic, Flavio Martins knows that securing a coveted service edge on customer satisfaction and loyalty takes more than reading stories of incredible service and role-playing in training meetings. In WIN THE CUSTOMER: 70 Simple Rules for Sensational Service, he offers practical techniques and inspirational insights that reinforce core customer-care principles and demonstrates how to apply them in day-to-day service work. Providing a standard for measuring the effectiveness of a company's customer service processes, complemented by straightforward, results- oriented instructions for engaging with customers on a more personal level, WIN THE CUSTOMER's collection of rules for achieving consistently excellent customer service include: • Be prepared to break traditional rules. "The reality is that customer service is hardly black-and-white," Martins acknowledges. "If it means brightening your customer's day, break the rules sometimes." • Compete only against yourself. "Most businesses obsess about watching their competition, so much so that they begin to lose track of their own strengths, their own vision, and all the aspects that make them unique to customers," Martins observes. Instead, he urges: "Measure what you do." • Embrace your service imperfections. "Service requires human interactions, and humans make mistakes," stresses Martins. "Use mistakes as opportunities to test your processes and your resolve to deliver the ultimate service experience that your customers deserve." • Learn something new every day. Find a way to say yes even when the answer is no. Don't be a Zappos to your Jack Welch customers… Accept that you can't please everyone… Take care of employees so they'll take care of customers… Forget mission statements: create action statements… Allow for random acts of wow… Get a reality check. RO B O O K R E V I E W WIN THE CUSTOMER: 70 Simple Rules for Sensational Service Author: Flavio Martins is also the author of the popular WinTheCustomer! blog. He was recently ranked #2 among the International Customer Service Management Institute's Top 100 Customer Service Thought Leaders and cited in Huffington Post's Top 100 Most Social Customer Service Pros on Twitter @flavmartins (over 30k followers) and blog winthecustomer.com/blog/. Publisher: Amacom

• Cover