Customer service

How an Indian hotel chain’s organizational culture nurtured employees who were willing to risk their lives to save their guests

Extensive study of the world’s best service companies reveals the principles on which they’re built.

The notion that companies must go above and beyond in their customer service activities is so entrenched that managers rarely examine it. But a study...

Corporate executives and consumers have in recent years adopted divergent views of product quality. Several recent surveys indicate how wide the quality perception gap is: Three out of five chief executives of the country’s largest 1,300 companies said in a 1981 survey that quality is improving; only 13% said it is declining.1 Yet 49% of […]

A refresher on customer churn rate.

Although reviled in the business press as short-term fads, rewards programs are gaining popularity. Rewards can and do build customer loyalty. Unfortunately,...

Your strategy should be driven by relationship-building - not shiny new tech.

Since its introduction, in 2003, the Net Promoter System, which measures how consistently brands turn customers into advocates, has become the predominant...

A thoughtful message can make the difference between a lost customer and a loyal one.

Takeaways from an analysis of millions of consumer data points.

Shoppers once relied on familiar salespeople to help them find exactly what they wanted--and sometimes to suggest additional items they hadn't even thought...

Most companies plan how they manage employees, but how many consider how to manage their customers? Given how important customer-employee relationships...

While management skills can improve service systems, a manager is better off if he or she first has a clear understanding of the operating characteristics that set one service system apart from another. This author offers one view of services, which, if followed, results in a “rational approach to the rationalization” of services. His view, […]

Frontline managers who spoke to HBR about the incivility that they and their employees face in the workplace outlined three key strategies to support...

Your experience as a customer in retail stores can teach you valuable business lessons to apply to your own organization.

And why it's "reprehensible," for both employees and customers.

The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co. (HSB) dominates the market segment in which it operates. Its success comes largely from the company's...

Hospitals should start by taking a page out of the hospitality playbook.

Not long ago, I visited a Trader Joe’s in Boston’s Back Bay. As I went to pay for my goods, I found a seemingly endless line for the cash registers. Well over 40 people were waiting to check out. It was “rush hour,” so perhaps I had no right to be surprised. But startled I […]

Traditional programs of quality control in the United States have emphasized mainly defensive actions--preventing defects--and even these programs have...