PrefaceWhat You Do Is Critically Important

“It’s not enough to merely satisfy the customer; customers must be ‘delighted’—surprised by having their needs not just met, but exceeded.”

—A. Blanton Godfrey

Serving customers. The two words cover so much. Answering questions. Solving problems. Untangling corporate logjams. Fixing what’s broken and finding what’s lost. Soothing the irate and reassuring the timid. And time after time, performing the business equivalent of pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

Not too long ago, working in customer service was just about as thankless a job as a person could find. Sales? That was a job with a future. Marketing? Now there was a title with some prestige. Digital marketing? Wow, the wave of the future. Advertising? ...

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