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Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business
Most companies treat service as a low-priority business operation, keeping it out of the spotlight until a customer complains. Then service gets to make a brief appearance – for as long as it takes to calm the customer down and fix whatever foul-up jeopardized the relationship.
In Uncommon Service , Frances Frei and Anne Morriss show how, in a volatile economy where the old rules of strategic advantage no longer hold true, service must become a competitive weapon, not a damage-control function. That means weaving service tightly into every core decision your company makes.
The authors reveal a transformed view of service, presenting an operating model built on tough choices organizations must
• How do customers define “excellence” in your offering? Is it convenience? Friendliness? Flexible choices? Price?
• How will you get paid for that excellence? Will you charge customers more? Get them to handle more service tasks themselves?
• How will you empower your employees to deliver excellence? What will your recruiting, selection, training, and job design practices look like? What about your organizational culture?
• How will you get your customers to behave? For example, what do you need to do to get them to treat your employees with respect? Do you need to make it easier for them to use new technology?
Practical and engaging, Uncommon Service makes a powerful case for a new and systematic approach to service as a means of boosting productivity, profitability, and competitive advantage.
In Uncommon Service , Frances Frei and Anne Morriss show how, in a volatile economy where the old rules of strategic advantage no longer hold true, service must become a competitive weapon, not a damage-control function. That means weaving service tightly into every core decision your company makes.
The authors reveal a transformed view of service, presenting an operating model built on tough choices organizations must
• How do customers define “excellence” in your offering? Is it convenience? Friendliness? Flexible choices? Price?
• How will you get paid for that excellence? Will you charge customers more? Get them to handle more service tasks themselves?
• How will you empower your employees to deliver excellence? What will your recruiting, selection, training, and job design practices look like? What about your organizational culture?
• How will you get your customers to behave? For example, what do you need to do to get them to treat your employees with respect? Do you need to make it easier for them to use new technology?
Practical and engaging, Uncommon Service makes a powerful case for a new and systematic approach to service as a means of boosting productivity, profitability, and competitive advantage.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
212 people are currently reading
1981 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
July 15, 2017
Compelling argument for choosing explicitly what to be good and what to be bad at in a service business. Lots of real world examples make it a more interesting read, though overall not as engaging as I hoped.
November 13, 2012
Uncommon Service makes one especially good point, which is that the customer service experience involves trade offs, where you can do some things well, but not all. While this is an important point, the remainder of the book tends to fall increasingly flat, with fewer additional ideas that could be considered new and unique.
July 2, 2024
A short and insightful business book about how to excel in certain areas of a business by deprioritizing or being purposely subpar in others. Some of the examples Frei and Morriss give are a bit dated now, like Commerce Bank specializing in the most convenient brick and mortar branch hours at the expense of offering market-low interest rates (many customers do nearly 100% online banking nowadays anyway, so branch hours are less important). Still, I think the majority of this book is very apt today, basically a corporate analog of the personal development advice of growing your strengths vs. shoring up your weaknesses (see Buckingham and Goodall's Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance and Newport's So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love).
My statistics:
Book 141 for 2024
Book 1744 cumulatively
My statistics:
Book 141 for 2024
Book 1744 cumulatively
February 28, 2025
A great read, specifically for the insight into a shared service team in a multi-focused firm.
It's an interesting read even for non-business readers. It will give you an insight into the services you receive. It almost felt like a micro-MBA.
Some of my takeaways
- Formulize and theorize good service, rather than relying only on culture and some hero employees. Design the system in such a way that good service is automatic.
- Prioritize your customer's needs and aim to excel in the top few. Even if you fail in the bottom few, the customers will be ready to overlook. Just how MacBook users preferred the light weight and were okay to overlook the lack of memory. Make sure you're not stuck being a mediocre by being average in all the customer needs.
- Unless if you're IKEA who completely flipped the priorities of a customer.
- Marketing segments are very different from operating segments. Two users may want the same service but in very different ways. For eg, parent of a student in school who works vs stays at home.
- Service charges must be palatable. Be upfront about the charges.
- If you find a way providing an additional service can reduce your cost, you will be able to fund the additional service with the money you save. For eg, the insurance company which sends the agent as soon as the accident occurs, to reduce their false claims and legal charges.
- Support your employees by making your processes simple and providing digital support to the users.
- It's a good idea to let your customers help each other out via forums.
- Some very interesting ways to hire people who have high levels of empathy. For eg, in the joint discussion round, make each candidate share an embarrassing story, and notice the listeners.
- Large, multi-focused orgs should be careful of focused entrants. Acknowledge the threat and develop models accordingly.
- Shared services is a great way for large orgs to grow. All common services can be combined. Draw the line and don't let the customer facing teams overpower the shared services teams.
The book had some very interesting examples from various business areas like healthcare, airlines, F&B, etc.
It's an interesting read even for non-business readers. It will give you an insight into the services you receive. It almost felt like a micro-MBA.
Some of my takeaways
- Formulize and theorize good service, rather than relying only on culture and some hero employees. Design the system in such a way that good service is automatic.
- Prioritize your customer's needs and aim to excel in the top few. Even if you fail in the bottom few, the customers will be ready to overlook. Just how MacBook users preferred the light weight and were okay to overlook the lack of memory. Make sure you're not stuck being a mediocre by being average in all the customer needs.
- Unless if you're IKEA who completely flipped the priorities of a customer.
- Marketing segments are very different from operating segments. Two users may want the same service but in very different ways. For eg, parent of a student in school who works vs stays at home.
- Service charges must be palatable. Be upfront about the charges.
- If you find a way providing an additional service can reduce your cost, you will be able to fund the additional service with the money you save. For eg, the insurance company which sends the agent as soon as the accident occurs, to reduce their false claims and legal charges.
- Support your employees by making your processes simple and providing digital support to the users.
- It's a good idea to let your customers help each other out via forums.
- Some very interesting ways to hire people who have high levels of empathy. For eg, in the joint discussion round, make each candidate share an embarrassing story, and notice the listeners.
- Large, multi-focused orgs should be careful of focused entrants. Acknowledge the threat and develop models accordingly.
- Shared services is a great way for large orgs to grow. All common services can be combined. Draw the line and don't let the customer facing teams overpower the shared services teams.
The book had some very interesting examples from various business areas like healthcare, airlines, F&B, etc.
September 15, 2022
If you have not been “in the trenches” of the product or service that your company is offering for some time this book can serve as a good reminder of some suggested practices.
In short be honest with the scale you operate at, and the limits of your team. Build your service around those factors while not being afraid to ask your customers for help.
In short be honest with the scale you operate at, and the limits of your team. Build your service around those factors while not being afraid to ask your customers for help.
September 7, 2025
DNF… was reading it to earn social points for a bookclub started by my Chief Product Officer at work. he was then let go…
book was fine.
on the plus side, somehow i got a signed copy.
felt like common sense from my beginner business school classes.
did i mention i attended THE Kelley School of Business?
anyway, thank you for coming to my TEDX talk.
peace and blessings
book was fine.
on the plus side, somehow i got a signed copy.
felt like common sense from my beginner business school classes.
did i mention i attended THE Kelley School of Business?
anyway, thank you for coming to my TEDX talk.
peace and blessings
April 4, 2013
This book has really stuck with me since I've read it. That says a lot for someone who reads a lot of books about customer service.
I really like how the core points are presented in a very logical framework. For example, one of the main points of the book is that your business can't be good at everything. Smart companies choose to be great at the attributes their target customers care the most about while spending less time, money, and attention on the things that don't matter.
I really like how the core points are presented in a very logical framework. For example, one of the main points of the book is that your business can't be good at everything. Smart companies choose to be great at the attributes their target customers care the most about while spending less time, money, and attention on the things that don't matter.
March 18, 2020
Breezy read. Very very practical. Has the answers to most common doubts and questions that you might have while reading the book. I would say the book has achieved the objective of had set out with.
If you are a service business owner or an aspiring one or a senior level manager in a service business - definitely do read this book.
If you are a service business owner or an aspiring one or a senior level manager in a service business - definitely do read this book.
December 27, 2023
To achieve service excellence, you must underperform in strategic ways. This means delivering on the service dimensions your customers value most, and then making it possible—profitable and sustainable—by performing poorly on the dimensions they value least. In other words, you must be bad in the service of good. ― Frances Frei
The customer is always right. Deliver exceptional service. We simply want to make what our customers want….
There are probably a thousand or more quotes about customer service that describe the process as easy or obvious. Great customer service does not have to be overly complex, complicated, or elusive. However, it is not easy. Perhaps the most complicated part is knowing that great customer service cannot merely strive to do what the customer wants.
Remember the quote that is attributed to Henry Ford? “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
Customers know that they want to feel good. They want to feel that they were heard and served. They want to sense that the folks that have developed the products or services they are offering have some semblance of understanding as to what the customer actually wants.
What’s hard is designing a service model that allows average employees—not just the exceptional ones—to produce service excellence as an everyday routine. ― Frances Frei
The companies that are the best at customer service make it their work to understand the customer. They design their products and services with these customers in mind. They deliver on the services that the customer deems a necessity and they willingly sacrifice excellence in areas or services that are simply not critical to these customers. They train and empower their teams to recognize the customer(s) needs and desires.
Leadership, at its core, is about making other people better as a result of your presence—and making sure that the impact lasts in your absence. ― Frances Frei
The customer is always right. Deliver exceptional service. We simply want to make what our customers want….
There are probably a thousand or more quotes about customer service that describe the process as easy or obvious. Great customer service does not have to be overly complex, complicated, or elusive. However, it is not easy. Perhaps the most complicated part is knowing that great customer service cannot merely strive to do what the customer wants.
Remember the quote that is attributed to Henry Ford? “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
Customers know that they want to feel good. They want to feel that they were heard and served. They want to sense that the folks that have developed the products or services they are offering have some semblance of understanding as to what the customer actually wants.
What’s hard is designing a service model that allows average employees—not just the exceptional ones—to produce service excellence as an everyday routine. ― Frances Frei
The companies that are the best at customer service make it their work to understand the customer. They design their products and services with these customers in mind. They deliver on the services that the customer deems a necessity and they willingly sacrifice excellence in areas or services that are simply not critical to these customers. They train and empower their teams to recognize the customer(s) needs and desires.
Leadership, at its core, is about making other people better as a result of your presence—and making sure that the impact lasts in your absence. ― Frances Frei
Read
June 10, 2019GREAT SERVICE = DESIGN X CULTURE which is then SCALED UP
It’s built into the design of the firm which achieves the goal of superior service on average employees
- Which means deciding what you won’t do well e.g. WMT wont provide high customer service & allocate resources accordingly
- Fund that capital allocation by either charging customers extra (e.g. apple charges for its after care), cost improvements drive improved service (Progressive agents come on site ==> higher customer service, lower incident of fraud leading to lower cost), have improved service lower costs (Intuit product managers man call center) or get customers to do the work (airline self-check-in kiosk)
- Either pay up for the best people, or have superior training that eliminates dead-weight, make the job easier for sales people so they can focus on service (don’t have a cashier sell complex fin products, also means picking the right customers) and have the right incentives
- Manage your customers i.e. select the right ones to serve, train them to use your product (e.g. customers use SBUX lingo to order), reduce the complexity of what the customer has to do to get the job done, reward customers for compliance (not loyalty programs that are mere discounts) and control the degree to which customers influence your operations (at BK you can make your own whopper … but up to a point)
It needs to permeate through the culture of the firm which means mgmt. needs to have clarity on their culture, need to signal it to all employees, and signal it across job functions
And finally scale up i.e. service model within service model (NOT recreating a new service model) e.g. Best Buy caters to DIY electronics while their own Magnolia brand deals in high end electronics with high customer service … need to make sure back ops are shared else don’t get any scale benefits
It’s built into the design of the firm which achieves the goal of superior service on average employees
- Which means deciding what you won’t do well e.g. WMT wont provide high customer service & allocate resources accordingly
- Fund that capital allocation by either charging customers extra (e.g. apple charges for its after care), cost improvements drive improved service (Progressive agents come on site ==> higher customer service, lower incident of fraud leading to lower cost), have improved service lower costs (Intuit product managers man call center) or get customers to do the work (airline self-check-in kiosk)
- Either pay up for the best people, or have superior training that eliminates dead-weight, make the job easier for sales people so they can focus on service (don’t have a cashier sell complex fin products, also means picking the right customers) and have the right incentives
- Manage your customers i.e. select the right ones to serve, train them to use your product (e.g. customers use SBUX lingo to order), reduce the complexity of what the customer has to do to get the job done, reward customers for compliance (not loyalty programs that are mere discounts) and control the degree to which customers influence your operations (at BK you can make your own whopper … but up to a point)
It needs to permeate through the culture of the firm which means mgmt. needs to have clarity on their culture, need to signal it to all employees, and signal it across job functions
And finally scale up i.e. service model within service model (NOT recreating a new service model) e.g. Best Buy caters to DIY electronics while their own Magnolia brand deals in high end electronics with high customer service … need to make sure back ops are shared else don’t get any scale benefits
March 1, 2023
You can’t be great at everything.
So pick the things that matter most to your customers.
And be great at those.
That’s it, that’s the whole book just stop there. 2 stars for pointing out this common sense to ponder, it’s good common sense.
It then goes onto a 10 step plan or some prescriptive nonsense, dressing up that tiny bit of basic common sense as a guru genius framework.
A large bag of bollocks after the first paragraph, basically.
So pick the things that matter most to your customers.
And be great at those.
That’s it, that’s the whole book just stop there. 2 stars for pointing out this common sense to ponder, it’s good common sense.
It then goes onto a 10 step plan or some prescriptive nonsense, dressing up that tiny bit of basic common sense as a guru genius framework.
A large bag of bollocks after the first paragraph, basically.
January 8, 2022
Excellent and thought provoking read
It did initially seem an odd concept to do something’s within the organisation badly. But to focus on doing the few things customers value, really well, other things need to bend or you end up doing everything averagely.
A recommended book for any business owner or manager.
It did initially seem an odd concept to do something’s within the organisation badly. But to focus on doing the few things customers value, really well, other things need to bend or you end up doing everything averagely.
A recommended book for any business owner or manager.
June 17, 2022
3 things that stood out for me:
1) A company cannot be great at everything. It is better to focus on the things that matter to your client base than to try to be better at everything.
2) An excellent service organization need to achieve its results with average employees. Don't say "If only everyone is like Mr X."
3) Someone needs to pay for great service. Nothing is free.
1) A company cannot be great at everything. It is better to focus on the things that matter to your client base than to try to be better at everything.
2) An excellent service organization need to achieve its results with average employees. Don't say "If only everyone is like Mr X."
3) Someone needs to pay for great service. Nothing is free.
May 5, 2024
I have come to love Frances Frei and Anne Morriss for their actionable, not just theoretical, leadership advice. Their take on service excellence is just as practical, and it’s common sense plus…meaning some of this you know and just need to know how to implement, but it goes further than that too - uncommon sense to go with uncommon service.
March 29, 2025
Wow! Finish this book in a day. It is so practical and gives so many insights and direct next steps to put the principles into practice. I love books like this that show you the direction and give you a push to get you started very highly recommend this book to anyone in any leadership position within an organization.
January 7, 2026
This book is a bit dated now but points out some successful systems except I worked in the hard tech industry at the time everyone was outsourcing support and it may appeared to be successful to the company but not the customer.
As we transition to AI this will only exacerbate the outsourcing of customer service that in my experience has only gotten worst in the tech world.
As we transition to AI this will only exacerbate the outsourcing of customer service that in my experience has only gotten worst in the tech world.
May 2, 2018
Great book, it helps you to discover the value of services.... And give you a framework to design the services
Great book, it helps you to discover the value of services.... And give you a framework to design the services
Great book, it helps you to discover the value of services.... And give you a framework to design the services
July 2, 2019
Fantastic nuts and bolts of great service
This book expanded my thinking without constantly drilling home things I already know. The experience of the authors comes through over and over.
This book expanded my thinking without constantly drilling home things I already know. The experience of the authors comes through over and over.
January 26, 2021
Uncommon Service urges one to pick your battles and not go after everything. My biggest takeaway was the existence of an alternate segmentation based on operational feasibility, dubbed as operational segments (on the similar lines of marketing segments based on demographics and psychographics).
March 30, 2021
This is a really great, practical and clear roadmap to turning your organization into a high service, high achieving one! Our whole service team is reading it together and gleaning great insights, wonderful and engaged discussions, and targeted action steps.
April 16, 2021
The first half of this book was excellent, but it felt like it ran out of gas about halfway through. The overarching theory sustained 4-5 insightful chapters before the book gave way to a pretty generic conclusion.
That said, the first half of the book was really, really good.
That said, the first half of the book was really, really good.
December 29, 2021
Inspiring, dynamic, and practical.
Their framework is a true blue print for service excellence.
Three key take aways: employees yearn to serve, customers are eager to do their part, and organizations can change overnight.
Highly recommend.
Their framework is a true blue print for service excellence.
Three key take aways: employees yearn to serve, customers are eager to do their part, and organizations can change overnight.
Highly recommend.
May 13, 2022
While this book is unnecessarily academic (maybe don't put a bunch of smiley faces on your cover and then write as if everyone reading is a Harvard MBA), but it is also packed with good information for any size business. My recommendation to small business owners - tough it out. It may get tedious at times, but it will give you so much valuable information.
February 14, 2023
Very applicable book with lots of tips and tricks. The only way to make this better would be by adding lots of comparison data (Collins style). Some of the ideas are thought provoking and it’s a great starting point to think differently.
January 28, 2024
Great book that will help you shift your perspective on how to provide excellent customer service. However, it needs to be updated as some of the examples are very old and might not be understood by contemporary readers.
September 21, 2017
Unconventional wisdom for best of class service and unparallelled competitive advantage
December 23, 2018
A solid service strategy book, lot of case studies and ideas.
October 30, 2019
Great examples and information. Not over complicated. Recommended.
December 11, 2019
Dnf half way through. Maybe not the right mindset but I found it boring to read.
August 31, 2020
my boss made me read this, good stories about...running a customer service team, gives you perspective. would have liked to see more dragons or time travel though.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews