Customer Service Books and Customer Service Articles and DVDs

Over the years we have written and had published a wide number of books and articles on customer service. These are based on our hands on experience of improving customer service across a wide number of global businesses.

Customer Service Books

Our most popular book, Customer Care Excellence is in its 6th edition. Click here to find a free copy of the introductory chapter: Customer Care Excellence Introductory chapter.

If you are looking to implement change in your organisation, see the Stairway book Change Management Excellence. Click here to find a free copy of the introductory chapter: Change Management Excellence - Start of Introductory Chapter.

A companion book in this series is The Essential Guide to Employee Engagement. This book provides practical techniques and case studies on how to encourage employees to go the extra mile for the customer. It also introduces Stairway’s WIFI model of engagement. Click here for a free diagnostic.

Books and Articles Customer Service Vision and Strategy

Unless you have a clear vision and strategy for customer service in your organisation then customer care will not be truly embedded in your business. Here are some Stairway articles to help you create a clear vision and strategy: Developing a Powerful Vision and Values to Help Bring about Change and Developing Strategy. You will also find more on strategy in the customer service in a recession section below.

Articles on creating a customer service culture

Some insightful articles we have written are Creating a Customer-Orientated Culture in Customer Service and Customer Focused Leaders - Customer Service. You will also find Creating a High Performance Culture through Effective Feedback a useful resource as well as Creating a customer focused organisation. You can see an overview of our approach to creating a customer service culture in Understanding Organisational Culture for Customer Service. There is a case study on creating a customer service culture in Change Management at Midlands Cooperative Society - Customer Service.

You can gain useful tips on customer service for your business in Customer Service in Your Organisation and whether culture change is right for you in Culture Change in Your Organisation. In addition we have produced a useful video The Manager as Service Provider - DVD and an article  Empowerment is important in a customer service environment. Perfect Empowerment is a useful resource to help you create more empowerment in your organisation.

Books and Articles for managers on customer service

Stairway have produced practical tips for managers in a customer service environment called 5 tips for delivering excellent customer service. We also have written other tips for managers such as Keeping the Best: Employee Retention in a Customer Service Environment and Advice to a Call Centre Manager - Customer Service. For a summary of why customer focus is important for business leaders see Customer Focused Leaders – Customer Service.

Customer Service in a Recession Podcasts and Articles

In difficult economic conditions businesses more than ever need to focus on customer service. Stairway has a podcast on the topic: Customer Service in a Recession Podcast as well as various articles Customer Service in a Recession article, Driving Growth Through Customer Service and Effective Strategy in a Recession - Customer Service. You will find useful tips in the article: In the Teeth of Difficult Economic Conditions.

You will also find a thought provoking article relevant to today’s economic conditions in Outsourcing your Services - Customer Service and If Customer Service is so Important, How Come it's Done so Badly?

Books, Articles and DVDs on Customer Service Training

We have published a wide range of easy to use training material for customer service. You will find many training games on customer service in our Training Shop.

You can also purchase tried and tested customer service training material in such volumes as 20 Training Workshops for Customer Care and Customer Service Skills Toolkit. We also have a Customer Service Skills DVD: Customer Service Skills in Your Organisation.

Other useful customer service reference material is Using Emotional Intelligence to Serve the Customer and Secret Service making Customer Service Work - DVD.

You can find hints and tips on effective customer service training in Is your Customer Service Training Missing its Mark?

Articles on Complaint Handling

We have a vast amount of experience in helping organisations improve the way they handle their customer complaints. Articles such as E-service Recovery outline our approach as does Managing Conflict in a Customer Service Environment.

Books and Articles on Customer Service Diagnostics

We have published a compendium of customer service questionnaires and inventories to help you diagnose the levels of customer service in your organisation as well as help with your training. These are Compendium of Customer Service Questionnaires and Inventories and Compendium of Customer Service Questionnaires and Inventories - Vol 1&2 DVD.

A useful customer service diagnostic is X-Ray your Organisation - How to Conduct a Customer Centric Health Check. Also see Does your Organisation have a Customer Focus?

Books and Articles on Customer Service Improvement

Stairway has written a wide range of material on the topic of customer service improvement. This includes how to measure externally Measuring Customer Service Effectiveness and Practical Benchmarking. Stairway also has practical advice on making improvements to customer service within the organisation such as Process Improvement and Customer Service Standards and Customer Service Level Agreements.

You can also find useful lessons on problem solving in Creative Problem Solving and Facilitation Toolkit. In addition we have a video on The Manager as Problem Solver - DVD.

Articles on Customer Service Reward and Recognition

Recognising and rewarding excellent service is a key element in creating and sustaining a customer orientated business. The Stairway articles Rewarding Customer Service Success and Rewarding, Recognising and Motivating Customer Service Staff provide useful and practical advice. You will also find practical tools and techniques in Twenty ways to Recognise and Reward Customer Service Excellence.

Books and Articles on Customer Service Measurement

It is essential to measure customer satisfaction and retention levels. You can find useful advice on how to do this in Listen and Learn - Customer Service as well as Running Effective Customer Focus Groups. We have also written two books on the topic: Measuring Customer Service Effectiveness and Practical Benchmarking.

Free Customer Service Diagnostics:

Does your organisation have a Customer Focus? Use the free Stairway diagnostics to assess your strengths and areas for improvement in customer service.

How Engaged are your Employees? Use the free Stairway diagnostics to assess your how willing your employees are to go the extra mile for the customer.

For more information on how we can help your organisation develop its customer service capability, please contact info@thestairway.co.uk or telephone 01628 526535.