Table of Contents

Preface vii

Secret Service Terminology xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Part I: The Customer Service Crisis 1

1 The Smoking Gun 3
Definitive proof of the return on investment in providing superior service

2 The State of Service 25
Is your company part of the customer service crisis or customer service revolution?

3 World-Class Service Sins 45
What prevents companies from being world class?

4 Service Aptitude Level 57
What level is your company?

Part II: The Customer Service Revolution 75

5 Commandment I: Service Vision 87
A clear purpose of why the business exists

6 Commandment II: Creating a World-Class Internal Culture 111
Attract, hire, and retain only the people who have the Service DNA

7 Commandment III: Nonnegotiable Experiential Standards 133
Experience standards everyone must follow

8 Commandment IV: Secret Service Systems 149
Utilizing Customer Intelligence to personalize their experience and engage and anticipate
their needs

9 Commandment V: Training to Provide a World-Class Customer Experience 181
Systems and processes that remove variation and provide a consistent customer experience

10 Commandment VI: Implementation and Execution 205
How to go from ideas on paper to consistently executed concepts

11 Commandment VII: Zero Risk 219
Anticipating your service defects and having protocols in place to make it right

12 Commandment VIII: Creating an Above-and Beyond Culture 243
Constant awareness and branding of how to be a hero

13 Commandment IX: Measuring Your Customer’s Experience 271
What gets measured gets managed

14 Commandment X: World-Class Leadership 295
Walking the talk

Index 315

About the Author

JOHN R. DIJULIUS III is considered the authority on customer service and President of The DiJulius Group, a consulting firm that helps companies differentiate themselves through superior customer service. He is also the owner of the John Robert’s Spa, a chain of high-end salons and spas repeatedly selected among the top twenty in America. For more information, visit www.thedijuliusgroup.com.