Customer Service in an Instant: 60 Ways to Win Customers and Keep Them Coming Back »

Karen Leland is a partner in Sterling Consulting Group and coauthor with Keith Bailey of the best-selling Customer Service for Dummies and Watercooler Wisdom: How Smart People Prosper in the Face of Conflict, Pressure and Change. Her consulting clients include American Express, Roche, Marriott Hotels, and Oracle. She is a familiar face in the media and has been interviewed by Time, Newsweek, Ladies Home Journal, Women's Day, CBS, and Oprah. She lives in San Rafael, California.

Keith Bailey is a partner in Sterling Consulting Group. His consulting clients include Microsoft, AT&T, Johnson and Johnson, and Lufthansa. He has been interviewed by Fortune, Entrepreneur, Inc. magazine, and CNN. He lives in Mill Valley, California.

As most corporate giants and small businesses alike have realized, service-both online and off-is a critical concern for surviving and thriving in today's fast-paced, quick-changing, and high-tech environment. One study shows that it costs six times more to gain a new customer than to retain a current one.

Customer Service In An Instant will help the reader learn how to create and project a winning service attitude in the often stress-filled environment of work, discover powerful actions they can take to increase customer loyalty and retention, and apply time-tested techniques for dealing with difficult customers and coworkers.

Filled with real world, practical advice gathered from Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, and entrepreneurs around the world, Customer Service In An Instant is a must read for anyone whose job involves frequent contact with external or internal customers by telephone, e-mail, or in person. Readers will learn the essential skills they need to create the kind of service partnerships that lead to both satisfied customers and staff including:

• Using technology to create customer closeness.
• Winning loyalty points by taking service initiative.
• Understanding customers' core concerns.
• Learning the most powerful two sentences in customer service.