Welcome to an exciting journey through the wonderful world of customer service into the twenty-first century. The last century was challenging, but hold onto your hats, because, as Dorothy said in The Wizard of Oz, "Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore."
     The business world, society, and the worldwide demographics have changed dramatically in recent decades. The pace of these changes is greatly accelerating and more changes will come. Further, with advances in technology, change is happening in the business world at a phenomenal pace.
     So let’s explore the dynamics occurring at every level of every organization in every industry and organization as we examine the people, practices, and events that make the world of customer service what it is today and will be tomorrow.
     As you read this book, you will discover that it provides a thorough introduction to a crucial skill set for anyone working in business today—people skills, or the skills to better understand and relate to others.
     Our intention is to raise your awareness, prompt your thinking, give you many step-by-step suggestions for improvement, and provide you with a valuable reference for information on how you and your organization can deliver service excellence. The information contained herein will benefit you whether you are new to dealing with others in a business setting or are more experienced with internal customers (e.g., coworkers or other employees) and external customers (e.g., consumers, vendors, or other end users of products).
     Although the terms customer service professional and customer service organization are used throughout the book, they are not meant to be exclusive. Everyone in business, government, or industry today has internal and/or external customers to whom they must provide products, services, information, or other deliverables.
     The skills, strategies, and techniques outlined in this book are valid in any organization because they are directed toward identifying customer needs and then satisfying those needs.

Text Features

     Customer Service: Building Successful Skills for the Twenty-First Century uses a wide variety of text and activities to gain and hold your interest while providing insights into the concepts and skills related to customer service.
     The text begins with an overview of what customer service involves, then focuses on specific skills and related topics, and finally provides insights into future customer service trends and issues.
     The book contains 14 chapters divided into five parts. The parts focus on different aspects of customer service: Part 1, "The Profession," Part 2, "Skills for Success," Part 3, "Self-Help Skills," Part 4, "Enhancing Customer Relationships," and Part 5, "Customer Service for the Twenty-First Century." Along with the valuable ideas, guidance, and perspectives offered in this book, you will encounter realworld cases about experts in today’s business world, as well as activities to challenge your thinking on the topics discussed.
     As you move through each chapter, you will find many helpful tools to enhance your learning experience and assist you in transferring your new knowledge to the workplace.
     Each chapter starts with a quote from a famous person—to prompt your thinking related to the chapter topic and focus.
     Also, note the behavioral-based Chapter Learning Objectives, the main concepts that a learner should know or be able to put into use by the end of a chapter. The Chapter Learning Objectives direct your focus and give you a way to measure your success in grasping the chapter concepts, once you have completed the chapter.
     Before you begin each chapter, you will do a self-assessment of your current skills and knowledge levels. This is the Quick Preview, which is a list of brief questions related to providing customer service that you answer and score yourself. Your incorrect answers help you focus on chapters and parts of chapters as you read the book; your correct answers help you determine which chapters and parts of chapters you should turn to for reinforcement.
     From the Frontline features appear at the beginning of most chapters. They provide insights into customer service in a variety of businesses, industries, and organizations. Told in the words of experts in the fields, these candid snapshots describe what it is like to provide service in an ever-changing world.
     Worksheets are provided on this website for this book for all chapters to give you an opportunity to act immediately on what you have learned. In some cases, you will create samples based on information provided in the chapter, and in others you will develop an action plan or a list of valuable information for future use on the job.
     Leadership Initiatives are short, quick tips for implementing concepts outlined in a chapter. They are designed to assist peer coaches, managers, supervisors, and others in leadership positions to create a powerful service environment.
     Work It Out activities are provided in all chapters to challenge your knowledge and provide an opportunity for individual and/or small group work on a specific topic or issue.
     The end-of-chapter features begin with a Chapter Summary that brings together the key concepts and issues.
     Service in Action presents overviews of internationally known organizations that are successfully implementing service philosophies.
     Key Terms and Concepts are listed at the end of each chapter to assist readers in identifying important elements they should have learned.
     Chapter Review Questions are given at the end of each chapter to stimulate thinking on how certain situations might be handled using information gained in the chapter. They also can be used as a discussion vehicle to share ideas with others.
     Search It Out activities give you an opportunity to expand your knowledge of customer service and your research skills on the Internet. In each chapter, you will be asked to explore the Internet to obtain a variety of customer service facts, figures, and related information that you will use in group activities, presentations, or discussions. You will also have an opportunity to participate in Collaborative Learning activities, in which you and one or more of your peers can work through a customer service problem to practice your skills and find answers to your questions.
     Face to Face exercises are customer service scenarios in which you assume the role of an employee and use the information provided to determine how you would solve a customer service problem.
     Planning to Serve action planning forms are provided at the end of each chapter. These can be used by readers to develop a strategy for applying what they learned in each chapter to the real-world service environment.
     The Appendix, Reader’s Customer Service Survey, helps the author—by providing your feedback on how you view this book. In addition to filling out an actual customer survey to tell us what you liked and did not like, you will also receive a gift for completing and returning the form.
     A Glossary, Bibliography, and Index follow the Appendix.

Basis for Content

     This book draws from my 32 years of management, human resources, and service experience. Some research and theoretical material appear in the book, but much of the information is derived from personal experience, research, and the reflections of other people who have experienced customer service encounters.
     Whether you are new to business and wish to expand your knowledge of customer service or are more experienced and are able to describe your efforts in dealing with people through customer service, customer relations, or customer encounters, your goal in using this text should be to improve your knowledge and skills. This can lead to total customer satisfaction.
     I’m confident that this book will help you reach your goals.

Robert William Lucas