From Publishers Weekly
According to this turgid primer, service with a smile is no longer enough. With today’s glut of interchangeable commodities and cynical consumers, every aspect of customer service must reinforce the brand image promulgated by the marketing department. Thus, employees of Fabulous Freddie’s gas stations try to work the word "fabulous" into every conversation with customers, while Abercrombie and Fitch hires college-age salespeople who look like their catalogue models. CNBC commentator Barlow, author of A Complaint Is a Gift, and consulting colleague Stewart, regale readers with anecdotes about snippy, sullen, ignorant sales associates who undermine brand loyalty and, worse, waiters and customer service reps whose carefully scripted cheerfulness and solicitude leave customers with a sour aftertaste of inauthenticity. Their ideal, derived from complexity theory conceits about the self-organizing behavior of flocking birds, is to get the typical high-turnover, minimum-wage service worker so imbued with the brand’s essence that it emerges in spontaneous, emotionally real encounters in which "service representatives and customers dance together in brand space." Their suggestions include lots of human resources exercises in which employees ponder and internalize the brand messages expressed in advertising, as well as acting lessons, penmanship instruction, "personal image and professional presence training," humor classes, seminars in reading body language, and exhortations to "live the brand" at work and at home. A case study of a makeover of a Bahamas resort, in which employees were instructed to translate the hotel’s marketing themes into the local island patois and create their own posters, dances and songs about them, gives readers a good sense of the book’s softly totalitarian approach to customer service.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Rod Oram, business commentator
"Barlow and Stewart reveal the secret of consumer loyalty. Consumers and companies alike should rejoice at the insights they offer."


Sirish Mani, National Customer Service Center Operations Development Manager, Toyota Financial Services
"This book is not only well written, it shows very clearly how to incorporate brand into service delivery."


Mark Di Somma, Pusher, Audacity Group
"This book makes a welcome stand for where brand needs to go. A wake-up call to companies worldwide."


Bruce Scheer, Founder and Principal, FutureSight Consulting
"Read this book for a foundation on which to base your customer service, for practical tips, and for sustainable advantages."


Joe Calloway, author of Becoming a Category of One
"Buy this book now for every employee and take your company to the next level of competitive performance."


Book Description
Branded Customer Service breaks new ground with an assertion that brand equity is built not just through advertising and public relations, but also through the human exchange of customer service. Customer relations experts Janelle Barlow and Paul Stewart have a passion for branding and explain in practical terms how to take a defined, recognizable brand position and then make it live through delivery of service. Challenges to consistency are discussed, as well as the internal promotion of brands, the reinforcement of brands through staff and customer interactions, and how to link brands to selling styles and messages.


About the Author
Janelle Barlow is President of TMI US, partner of the multinational consulting organization, TMI International. She is a leading author, seminar leader, and international speaker. Her ability to move people to significant behavioral change is the result of decades of professional speaking. Twice awarded the prestigious "International Trainer of the Year" by TMI, she has also earned the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation by the National Speakers Association, on whose national board she sits. She regularly appears as a guest on CNBC's "NPR Marketplace" Paul Stewart is a Director of TMI New Zealand, which is part of the international human-factor based business solutions company TMI International. TMI works to create Exciting Company Cultures, applying concepts in organizational development, operational processes, internal marketing and communications. He was previously chief economist for the ANZ Banking Group (NZ) Ltd. And has held key executive roles specializing in operationalizing corporate strategy through brands and organizational culture. Now he works with a range of companies in integrated brand, culture development and emotional intelligence. He also mentors and advises executives from a number of leading New Zealand organizations.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In Branded Customer Service they link the dynamics of customer service with the psychology of brand to show how organizations can turn their service delivery into a powerful tool for establishing and maintaining a distinct brand identity. An integrated brand needs to be expressed through every aspect of the company's organizational culture -- especially the human exchange of customer service. Branded Customer Service breaks new ground by showing how to take a defined and identifiable brand and bring it to life through service delivery.

SYNOPSIS

Barlow is president of a U.S.-based partner, and Stewart director of a New Zealand-based partner, of a multinational consulting organization. They offer a range of ideas, research, strategies, and techniques to facilitate the understanding and delivery of an organization's brand through service. Coverage includes the evolution and power of brands, the relationship between branding concepts and branded customer service, supporting and promoting branded customer service, and methodologies and practical ideas for delivering service that is aligned with a company's brand. For executives, marketers, HR and customer service trainers, supervisors, and customer service personnel. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

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