What to say to a Porcupine by Richard S. Gallagher

"What to say to a Porcupine" by Richard S. Gallagher - Customer service through fables!

This book is published by Amacom in 2008 and has 128 pages.

Author states his goal as to have a little fun with the things that happen between you and your customers and in the process, share some of the real secrets of serving other people. Format of this book is based on Aesop's fables, using humans and animals to tell a story with moral that you can use in life.

Book summary

Section 1 - The basics:

Story of clowns tells us to make a good first impression on your customer. Understand that customers' needs come first. Story of Hyena's restaurant asks us to listen to customers, take feedback and react to it. Customer satisfaction is as important as quality, variety and price. The moral of story of Greek Chorus is not to hassel your customer. Expect customers to behave like people and learn to keep your sense of humor, don't let the frustration set in. Parrots night out recommends to avoid negative expectations. Assuming worst in the customers leads to rude behavior. Story of snipe tells us, well, not to be a snipe with customers. Customer service involves helping people with problems and problems are no fun.

Section 2 - On the front line :

Story of Porcupine, difficult customers, suggests that we speak customer's agenda. Don't confront prickly customer. Set yourself as ally to demanding customer. Story of bears underlines mechanics and technique of good service. Greet customers, know their likes and dislikes, thank them. Story of the law firm highlights that key to handling tough situations is to learn how to speak to the other person's interest. Manage stress. Story of Penguin construction advises that bad service is not only saying wrong things but also not saying anything at all. Author uses shoe store story to convey message to keep your attention on your customer and not yourself. This will help you in advancing your career. 

Section 3 - Respect

King Arthur's tale underlines how treating customers with respect can be beneficial. Best way to develop positive mutual relationship is by taking good hard look at your policies and underlying values. Story of truffle shop by pigs tells us that having a good product is not an excuse for bad service. Peak periods should not bring out the worst in your team. Story of mixing two colonies of bees is all about respecting diversity. Don't stereotype customers based on race, ethnicity, age or gender. Tale of the dogs talks about positive reinforcement. When you learn to tap into these human emotions and help customers feel good, the rewards will come back to you. 

Section 4 - Service strategy

Story of a bunch of shrinks opening a bar is a lesson to learn what the customers like and find ways to give it to them, irrespective of your expertise. The story of huts built by sloths is all about setting customer expectations and creating a niche or premium product. The story of Mopes highlights that real service quality lies in connecting with other people and meeting their needs, not necessarily being perky or chirpy. Story of rabbits and tortoises running courier companies underlines importance of going extra mile, going above and beyond. 

Section 5 - You and your service team

Story of Mr. Grindle and Mynah tells that rules can set standards but can't create good service. Treat employees as your most important customer. Story of Sarge, a football coach turned store manager, underlines importance of positive strength based coaching. 

End of Book summary

Author uses natural characteristics of animals to exemplify personality traits. Hyenas are aggressive. Parrot repeats what he hears. Snipe is ornery. Porcupine is prickly, rude and demanding. Bears growl. Penguins are chilly by nature. Pigs are, well, pig headed. Bees don't mix with bees from another colony. Dogs are trained to follow orders. Sloths are very slow, slowest mammals on earth. Rabbits are fast and turtles are slow. Mynah says the sentence she has been taught. Not every story has animals. These parables are short, just like Esop's. Author refrains from elaboration and writes to the point. The book is interspersed with sketches of animals relevant to the story.

The stories of Porcupine, Hyenas and Sloths are good but the story of Bees is the best. Author gives moral of the story at the end of each story. Interestingly, many times it's not the real moral of the story or it's not the only moral of the story. 

Some times there is an overlap in message of two tales. One can wonder why two stories to make the same point. But there is a subtle difference in the points each story makes. Essence of the book is customer service and that good service should be fun.

Customer service is an art and science. In customer service often your reactions should be counter intuitive. You have to be empathetic and understand that more often than not you are called in when there is an issue. 

Author has provided discussion questions at the end of each chapter. They help in summarizing the chapter and brainstorming real situation. 

Epilogue of the book is essence of the book. I felt that the same essence should have been prologue in addition to epilogue. That would have followed the classic advise of Aristotle "Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them". 

It's a very interesting idea of giving some serious advice through parables, thus making it more user friendly, approachable, easy to relate and entertaining.  Reading this book on such a serious topic was fun. I enjoyed it. 

Why did I read this book? Title. 

What I didn't like? Tales are very short.   

What did I like? Use of animal characteristics and giving serious message lightly.

Highly recommend reading, if you are in customer service industry, and even if you are not.