Getting Service Right

Overcoming the Hidden Obstacles to Outstanding Customer Service

Cover image of the Getting Service Right book.

Are you endlessly trying to improve your employees' customer service skills, but getting so-so results? There may be a culprit that you've never considered.

Rather than offering another set of customer service tips, Getting Service Right takes a novel approach by rooting out the real reasons employees don't consistently deliver the service they should.

Named a Top 11 Customer Experience Book You Must Read in 2022 by Nextiva

Rated one of the 11 Best New Customer Service eBooks to Read in 2021 by Book Authority!

Cover image of the first edition.

Cover image of the first edition.

About Getting Service Right

The original book, Service Failure, was published in 2012. The new book:

  • Has a new title

  • Features updated research

  • Contains new obstacles

Employees face obstacles to outstanding service every day. Many are hidden or even counterintuitive.

  • Company cultures that unwittingly discourage excellent customer service.

  • Employees torn between following policy or serving the customer.

  • Cost reduction efforts that actually increase the cost of service.

  • Poor products and services that make it impossible to satisfy customers.

  • Bad habits that make it difficult to listen to customers' needs.

Getting Service Right will help you identify those obstacles and overcome them.

The book is filled with examples from well-known organizations, real stories from frontline employees, and the latest scientific research.

The book reveals proven solutions to each obstacle.

About Jeff Toister

Jeff's first customer service interaction ended in a service failure. Vowing to learn from that experience, he became obsessed with customer service.

Today, he is an author, consultant, and trainer who helps organizations develop customer-focused cultures.

He's written four books including Getting Service Right. More than 10,000 customer service professionals around the world subscribe to Jeff's Customer Service Tip of the Week email. More than one million people on six continents have taken one of his video-based training courses on LinkedIn Learning.

Jeff has been recognized as one of the top 30 customer experience professionals in the world by Global Gurus.

Getting Service Right author, Jeff Toister.
​Service Failure book cover

Buy the Book

Getting Service Right now available:

Praise for Getting Service Right

“With multiple strategies supported by real-life examples, Jeff Toister teaches how to avoid service failure and provide service success.” —Shep Hyken, New York Times bestselling author of The Amazement Revolution

“This should be required reading for Customer Experience, Customer Service and HR professionals.” —Bill Schimikowski, Vice President of Customer Experience, Fidelity Investments

“Getting Service Right offers a very personal and deeply felt discourse on an important topic: improving (and avoiding failure in) customer service and customer experience.” —Micah Solomon, customer service author, consultant, and keynote speaker

"What I love about this book is the personal connection the author has to the topic. Customer service leaders will appreciate the countless stories and examples they can use to train and educate their staff.” —Alyona Medelyan, CEO, Thematic

“A must read for leaders that are seriously interested in cultivating a culture of customer service excellence. Getting Service Right is by far one of the best guides to understanding why employees and customers behave the way they do, and how leaders can overcome obstacles to providing great customer service.” —John Tiliacos, Executive Vice President of Airport Operations & Customer Service, Tampa International Airport

“This book takes readers into the anatomy of good customer service. Jeff Toister offers relevant advice with great examples that will help reduce systemic service failures and transform the customer service experience.” —Erica Mancuso, Director of Client Care at Straightaway Health Careers

“Many companies today struggle to meet the rising service expectations of customers. In Getting Service Right, Jeff Toister tackles tough topics like dishonest customers, toxic environments and budget pressure via relatable personal stories. There is no shortage of books on customer service, but few are written by someone with as deep and wide an understanding of the issues as this one.” —Shai Berger, CEO, Fonolo

“I have worked in and around services organizations for over 20 years and I found Getting Service Right an interesting, useful, and thoroughly enjoyable read. Toister has a deeply empathic understanding of how and when customer experiences go wrong and offers practical guidance on how to set a team up for success.” —Marc Dyer, Vice President of Customer Success, Clio

“Customer expectations can be a moving target, but the truths in this book will help any service leader in any industry. The combination of Jeff’s humor, wisdom, and authenticity make it both extremely helpful and enjoyable for the reader. This is the first book I recommend to anyone who is moving into a Customer Service leadership role or someone looking to improve their service results.” —Nate Brown, Director of Customer Experience, EHS Sustainability

“Jeff Toister is a great teacher of customer service because he’s a great student of customer service. His latest book, “Getting Service Right” is full of lessons that can be applied just as easily to individuals as well as teams and organizations. Read this book and you will serve your customers better!” —Jeremy Watkin, Director of Customer Experience, FCR

“As the title says, in this book Jeff will lead you on a journey to Getting Service Right. With Jeff’s help you’ll learn what creates great experiences and how to avoid service failures. Most importantly, you’ll develop a strategy that you can implement to set your organization apart from the competition.” —Jeremy Hyde, Customer Service Manager, UCare

“Good customer service can be difficult to achieve consistently but, in Getting Service Right, Jeff Toister delivers sound research, proven strategies, and accessible advice for customer service leaders to improve their operations. As a trainer at heart, Jeff’s genuine desire to see his readers improve their customer service shines through in the examples, exercises, and thoughtful frameworks that he outlines in this newest book.” —Justin Robbins, Founder, JM Robbins & Associates

“Jeff does an outstanding job at keeping you engaged throughout each chapter and building on each topic by highlighting the positives and negatives to help you understand how it can impact providing outstanding customer service. The material and ideas within this book make it a must read for any customer service leader who is looking to elevate their teams service!” —Jacob Shields, Sr. Call Center Manager, CCI Systems, Inc.

Thank You to Getting Service Right Supporters!

Video

Many of the concepts in Getting Service Right can be found in Jeff Toister’s training videos on LinkedIn Learning.

In this video, Jeff discusses how we can easily miss service cues that should be obvious. You’ll learn simple methods for improving your powers of observation while serving customers.

This video is part of the Innovative Customer Service Techniques course on LinkedIn Learning.

You'll need a LinkedIn Learning or Lynda.com subscription to take the full course, but you can get a 30-day trial account.

See more training videos from Jeff Toister or hire Jeff to speak in person at your next corporate meeting or conference.

Companion Workbook

This workbook is designed to help customer service leaders, trainers, and frontline employees implement concepts from the book. It contains ten customer service training exercises to help energize your team.