Books › Delivering quality service
Delivering quality service
First published 1990 · 240 pages
A rigorous, foundational masterclass in transforming the abstract concept of good service into a measurable, manageable science.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like sitting in a masterclass taught by the pioneers of modern service management. The pace is steady and methodical, guiding you through the complexities of human expectation with the cool, analytical precision of a well-designed mathematical model. It replaces the vague anxiety of trying to please everyone with a structured, empowering framework that makes excellence feel achievable. The prose is clear and pragmatic, heavily anchored in real-world case studies that bring theoretical concepts to life. It is an intellectually rigorous yet deeply practical experience, perfect for business leaders and operations managers who want to move beyond buzzwords and build systems that consistently deliver on their promises.
- Mood
- professional
- focused
- intellectually rigorous
- Tone
- authoritative
- analytical
- pragmatic
- instructive
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- managing expectations · operational excellence · customer perception · systematic improvement
- The writing
- Clear, methodical, and research-driven, utilizing case studies and models to ground abstract concepts in practical reality.
- The arc
- Moves from the overwhelming complexity of customer dissatisfaction to the empowering clarity of a structured, actionable framework.
- Who it's for
- Business leaders, service managers, and operations students looking for a foundational, data-backed approach to understanding what customers actually want.
About the book
Excellence in customer service is the hallmark of success in service industries and among manufacturers of products that require reliable service. But what exactly is excellent service? It is the ability to deliver what you promise, say the authors, but first you must determine what you can promise. Building on seven years of research on service quality, they construct a model that, by balancing a customer's perceptions of the value of a particular service with the customer's need for that service, provides brilliant theoretical insight into customer expectations and service delivery. For example, Florida Power & Light has developed a sophisticated, computer-based lightening tracking system to anticipate where weather-related service interruptions might occur and strategically position crews at these locations to quicken recovery response time. Offering a service that customers expect to be available at all times and that they will miss only when the lights go out, FPL focuses its energies on matching customer perceptions with potential need. Deluxe Corporation, America's highly successful check printer, regularly exceeds its customers' expectations by shipping nearly 95% of all orders by the day after the orders were received. Deluxe even put U.S. Postal Service stations inside its plants to speed up delivery time.
Description from Open Library.
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