The real heroes of business-- and not a CEO among them

Great service employees - the waiter whose attention ensures your return to a restaurant even after a mediocre meal, the mechanic at the car dealership who's so capable that you'd never buy a car anywhere else - these people are a business's most valuable asset. Service like this is not a matter of rules, regulations, and corporate training programs, but of performance. Great service workers are artists; they bring to their work an inspiration that comes from more than a paycheck or a list of goals. Professor Len Schlesinger of the Harvard Business School and Bill Fromm of the marketing firm Barkley & Evergreen reviewed hundreds of individual service performers in their nationwide search for the outstanding few who deserve to be called the real heroes of business. The authors reveal the secrets of the fourteen service heroes they found and they analyze the details and strategies that distinguish great service from good service. How can you put the best of the best ideas to work for your business? Start by throwing out the hiring rule book. Talented service providers don't necessarily look good on paper, so most hiring processes eliminate them. Heroes shows: how to find the perfect people for your business; how to create environments that sustain their great performances; what extraordinary performers add to the bottom line of business. Everyone, from CEO's to frontline workers to managers who hire and train service pros, will also learn how to make a great first impression - in person and on the telephone, design systems that provide better service in both calm and crisis, and provide the right incentives. The Real Heroes of Business will inspire you to a new standard of excellence in the kind of service you should demand and deliver.