Article at a glance:

The 'moment of truth' in customer service

• A big prize awaits companies that can develop deeper and more lasting relationships with their customers. Yet many businesses rely too much on IT and perform poorly on the front line.
• The key to correcting frontline performance is the consistent handling of "moments of truth"—those few interactions where customers have an unusual amount of emotional energy invested in the outcome.
• Contrary to accepted wisdom, senior executives can take coordinated action to increase the emotional intelligence, or "EQ," of employees.
• The necessary steps include working to give frontline jobs real meaning, aligning structures and processes, focusing on learning by experience, developing frontline leaders, and using them to serve as role models.