The Million Dollar Greeting. Dan Sachs

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      [no image in epub file]

      The

      Million Dollar

      Greeting

      The

      Million Dollar

      Greeting

      Today’s Best Practices for

      Profit, Customer Retention,

      and a Happy Workplace

      Dan Sachs

      with Janet Scott

      The Million Dollar Greeting: Today’s Best Practices for Profit, Customer Retention, and a Happy Workplace

      Copyright © 2018 by Dan Sachs and Janet Scott.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be sent by e-mail to Apollo Publishers at [email protected].

      Apollo Publishers books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. Special editions may be made available upon request. For details, contact Apollo Publishers at [email protected].

      Visit our website at www.apollopublishers.com.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

      Cover design by Rain Saukas.

      Print ISBN: 978-1-94806-214-5

      Ebook ISBN: 978-1-948062-15-2

      Printed in the United States of America.

      Contents

       Foreword By Alwyn Scott

       Introduction: A Brief (But Necessary) History of Customer Service

       It All Starts with Hospitality, Baby

       Section 1: The Evangelists

       Chapter 1: Zingerman’s:Laser-Focused on Customer Service

       Chapter 2: Nick’s Pizza & Pub:Employees in Charge

       Chapter 3: BerylHealth: Everyone Deserves a “Thank You”

       Section 2: The Transformers

       Chapter 4: Zappos:If You’re Not Changing, You’re Dying

       Chapter 5: FreshBooks:It’s All about the Rock Stars—a.k.a. Customer Service

       Chapter 6: Brooklyn Brewery:Education

       Section 3: The Pragmatists

       Chapter 7: Lettuce Entertain You: Consistency for the Brand and the Customer

       Chapter 8: Union Square Hospitality: Start at Square One—HIRING

       Chapter 9: Hyatt: Top-Down Empathy

       Chapter 10: Lessons Learned

       Bibliography

       Acknowledgments

      Foreword

      By Alwyn Scott

      A few years ago, my wife and I were shopping for ski gloves at the flagship store of an outdoor goods retailer, a Seattle company known for deep expertise and legendary customer service. We picked two pairs of gloves and asked a salesman which would be warmer.

      “Impossible to say!” he replied, delightedly. There were simply too many variables, he said—would my wife use them in wet or dry weather, high or low altitude, snow or rain conditions?—to render a meaningful opinion. And he walked off.

      We found this hilarious. Like Jack Black’s comedic record-store salesman in the movie High Fidelity, this guy was so steeped in knowledge that he could not answer a simple question. Still holding the two pairs of gloves, we asked another salesperson, an older woman.

      “This pair,” she said without hesitation, and pointed to one.

      We have told the story many times, and we gradually moved our business to another Seattle outdoor goods store that took itself a little less seriously. One that could tell us, straight off, which item was warmer.

      Here, in a nutshell, is what The Million Dollar Greeting reveals: Why companies that sweat the details still fall flat with customer service—and how you can not only avoid those mistakes, but build a culture where they just don’t happen.

      It might seem simple. After all, customer service is as old as business itself. But the world is changing. We live increasingly in a disconnected, digital world filled with millennial customers and employees who see things quite differently than their parents did.

      At Brooklyn Brewery, for example, founder Steve Hindy realized years ago that he needed to teach his customers about the history and many styles of beers if he hoped to sell the flavorful suds he was brewing. He started a “beer school” so employees could speak knowledgeably to customers.

      More than thirty years later, the school is just as vital, in part because it appeals to new millennial workers, who tend to value a sense of authenticity far more than loyalty to a company.

      That’s why this book is timely. Through extensive on-the-ground research, The Million Dollar Greeting distills a unique formula that helps businesses of all sizes achieve consistently good customer service for millennials and older generations. That formula, combined with a wealth of practical examples, gives this book its extraordinary insight and value.

      This isn’t just feel-good stuff. It is a road map to much higher profits for leaders who use the formula correctly. Why? As we found with the ski gloves, good service brings loyalty and the willingness to pay more.

      Would you be interested to know how global businesses such as the Amazon-owned shoe seller Zappos and the Hyatt Hotels chain use the formula to deliver the customer service that sets them apart?

      Would you like to learn how Union Square Hospitality Group, which runs seventeen New York City restaurants, bars, and cafés, ensures top-notch experiences for customers, whether they are having antipasti at a rustic Italian bistro, southern barbecue at a jazz club, or Michelin-starred cuisine at the Museum of Modern Art?

      What about smaller businesses? Ann Arbor food merchant Zingerman’s and Chicago’s Nick’s Pub & Pizza put the principles to work on an intimate scale, achieving a bond with customers that keeps them coming back—and telling their friends.

      I have known Dan since the 1980s, shortly after he graduated from Harvard, and have watched as he opened two highly successful restaurants in Chicago: Spruce and Bin 36. I marveled at the attention to detail and the relaxed, sophisticated