Chapter 27Speed means nothing if your customers only get annoyed faster. Don’t just say customer service is a priority—make it one.

My friend Dr. Tracy Smith loved a software program he had been using for work, but he needed an upgrade to something more powerful. He had been completely satisfied with the older version of the software, so he decided to try that company’s new version first. He downloaded a trial upgrade, good for 30 days, and liked it. When he got the message “Trial over, you need to purchase the full working version,” he did what many of us do every day: he went to the site, entered his credit card information, and chose the “instant download” option.

Tracy didn’t want to wait for a disk. He wanted instant productivity and gratification, ...

Get Running the Gauntlet: Essential Business Lessons to Lead, Drive Change, and Grow Profits now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.