Here's another book that bucks the conventional wisdom which is why we've listed it here.

Sometimes the best books are the ones you don't hear about because their is little marketing. This may be one.

Synopsis

Emphasizing the use of win-win negotiation skills, this revolutionary book explains why the popular adage "The customer is always right, " has failed. Includes a frank discussion of customer expectations and the types of services that workers are actually able to provide. Real-life examples of effective supervision and positive employee morale are included.

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Product Description

Emphasizing the use of win-win negotiation skills, this revolutionary book explains why the popular adage "The customer is always right," has failed. Includes a frank discussion of customer expectations and the types of services that workers are actually able to provide. Real-life examples of effective supervision and positive employee morale are included.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3230651 in Books
• Published on: 1994-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 211 pages

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Customer Reviews

Excellent. A must read for any customer service professional
We know the customer is not always right, but how do you tell him/her that and retain the business? This author offers excellent advice on the company's responsibility in creating and managing customer expectations, and negotiating successful resolutions when the customer expects more than you ever promised. Understanding where and how misconceptions can develop and how to redirect has helped our reps successfully resolve misunderstandings while leaving our customers with their dignity.

Not what I expected
expected to see an objective look at rude customers, and all I got was a few lectures on how to make a customer feel better. I felt like I was back in retail, listening to my boss tell me how I "could have" made a better experience for an extremely rude, irrational and hostile customer.

Sorry, but there are a few nutjobs out there who would be better off, in my opinion, if they received less coddling from management and instead got a public spanking. Issues regarding rude customers have been better and more objectively dealt with on websites like customerssuck.com. I realize there are bad apples in customer service as well, but these days the majority of abuse seems to be handed out by the customers themselves. If you're a business owner or manager, you'd be better off with the book "Angel Customers and Demon Customers".

Slavery may have been outlawed, but some sociopathic nitwits see an opportunity for abusing those who can't fight back whenever dealing with a service person. Management makes the mistake of sacrificing employee dignity for the supposed financial return gained in making an impossible customer "happy". How much of this abuse results in time lost for sick leave, turnover, etc. is a question rarely asked by management or the idiot CEO's who guide them. Or this book.

Retail is in serious need of reform: retailers should quit being so greedy, start seeing their employees as a valuable resource rather than an expendible asset, get back to payimg salespeople commissions, and start paying a living wage. And while they're at it, they should read "Nickel and Dimed".

This book tends to support the old, tired saw "the customer is always right", even though retail these days is clamping down on customer abuse, particularly with returns. As a former clerk, I just wish they'd clamp down on customers who abuse employees, and quit looking at service workers as some sort of replaceable peasant pawns who don't deserve better wages or treatment. The fact that Walmart and other retailers take out what are called "dead peasant" policies on their employees (collecting about 75K for the company in the event an employee dies) should give an idea about what the retail giants and other service firms really think of their workers. Gee, it's no wonder Walmart hires all those elderly "greeters". They make a small fortune if one of them drops dead!