7 Customer Service Books to Help You Level Up Your Business

UPDATED: September 18, 2024
PUBLISHED: October 6, 2021
7 Customer Service Books to Help You Level Up Your Business

Good customer service will help you level up your business. That’s because great customer service can turn even a dissatisfied customer into one of your biggest brand advocates.

But customer service has become increasingly complex with more roles to play than ever. Client relations might mean taking traditional service calls, but it also means automated customer relationship management. To help you get a handle on things, we’ve created categories for the seven best customer service books in print today. And if you are a solopreneur trying to start a business, you may want to find time for all of them.

Customer Service for Employee Growth and Team-Building

The Service Culture Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Your Employees Obsessed with Customer Service

By Jeff Toister

How do you build a company culture of customer service? Where every employee works proactively to assist clients and even supports each other in that endeavor? Jeff Toister has the answer. As president of Toister Performance Solutions, he assists companies big and small to develop—and maintain—proactive customer service cultures. His book guides you step by step through his proven formula to build your own customer-focused team.

Customer Service for Your Digital Presence

Digital Customer Service: Transforming Customer Experience for An On-Screen World

By Rick DeLisi and Dan Michaeli

Level up your customer service online. Published in August 2021, DeLisi and Michaeli provide the most up-to-date information for company executives and customer service leaders to improve their online game. Customer service expectations are increasing, and that means 24-hour self-service too. The authors also pay special attention to online reviews and social media along with more traditional sales and support techniques. Each step of the way, you learn to improve overall user experience, lower costs and retain your clients.

Customer Service for the New Entrepreneur

Customer Service is Dead: Delivering 6-Star Service In A 1-Star World

By Mitche Graf

Have you noticed that many companies that focus on customer service in their advertising fall short in practice? Graf has created a manifesto for newer, smaller enterprises to gain an advantage by ensuring best customer service practices are “cooked in” from the start. From turning complaints into positive reviews to employee hiring and training, this book will assist you in creating a company with customer service as its foundation.

Customer Service for Front Line Communicators

The Customer Communication Formula

By Charlotte Purvis

If you are a business owner, you already live on the front line of client communications. But any associate who interacts with the public must wear that communications hat. And to boost your customer service brand, you and your associates all need to communicate effectively.

With more than 20 years of assisting clients improve their customer service, Purvis knows the tips and tricks for better communications. She begins by helping you understand communication in three phases: Connection, Conversation and Closure. From there, she offers specific practices to help you master the art of communication. Her formula, though specific, is not difficult to master. And it will help you exceed both customer expectations and your performance goals.

Best CRM Practices for Customer Service

Customer Relationship Management: Concepts and Technologies (4th Edition)

By Francis Buttle

Customer relationship management (CRM) greatly benefits customer service by helping you better understand your customers. That is, the data CRM provides allows you to attend to client needs and desires… sometimes before they know they have them.

This book stands out from other CRM tomes because it balances as both a great introduction to CRM while also going into depth. This quality—along with a comprehensive, full color interior—has made Better Relationship Management ideal for entrepreneurs, customer service teams and advanced business students alike.

Customer Service Automation for Service-Based Entrepreneurs

The Boutique Effect

By Mary Sue Dahill

Do you think of automation as a reduction of personalized customer contact? Set that thought aside. Working harder does not mean working better. In fact, proper use of CRM tools can actually create a more personalized experience for your customers. In fact, you can build a boutique experience.

Although the previous book introduces you to CRM, The Boutique Effect focuses on its implementation specifically for small business owners. Mary Sue Dahill brings more than 20 years of technology management experience. Her own company, Work Smarter Digital, serves over 60 clients in creating their own unique customer experiences. Dahill covers client onboarding, mailing lists, event communications and more to help you streamline and improve your digitized customer service. 

Customer Service for Everyone

The Thank You Economy

By Gary Vaynerchuk

Until now, we’ve focused on recently published books. The purpose is to ensure you find the most up-to-date best practices using the most recent technologies. But no customer service list is complete without Vaynerchuk’s 2011 The Thank You Economy. Whether you work at an on-site service desk or live in the world of automated customer management, this classic tome of customer appreciation is for you.

“There is enormous ROI in social media,” says Vaynerchuk. “It’s like my famous saying though, ‘What’s the ROI of your mother?’”

With this approach in mind, Gary Vaynerchuk helps you take a step back from the world of numbers and bottom lines. Not so that you avoid them, but so you begin to see them as a whole. Vaynerchuk helps you realize that social interactions lie at the root of all commerce. If you haven’t yet read The Thank You Economy, be sure to include it with any other selections from our list.

Photo by @elodycy/Shutterstock

Bryan Lindenberger

Bryan enjoys the digital space where arts and technology meet. As a writer, he has worked in education, health and wellbeing, and manufacturing. He also assists smaller businesses in web development including accessibility and content development. In his free time, he hikes trails in central Florida.

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