Book Review: In the Common Interest 2: Embracing Five Star Customer Service by John Carona
Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads giveaway to facilitate this review. No other compensation was offered or requested.
Mr. Carona is the founder of Associa, a community management company. They work with homeowners’ associations, gated communities, highrise complexes and such places to provide maintenance, security and other amenities to those living in those spaces. If you’re like me and have never lived in one of those places, you’ve likely never heard of Associa, even though they’re one of the largest companies in the business.
The community management business presents some interesting challenges when it comes to customer service. According to this book, the board of directors of the community (or equivalent organization) are the actual customers in that they’re the ones who agree to Associa’s contract and pay the company directly. But the people living in the communities are the ones that Associa has to please, and sometimes the contract prevents an easy solution because that would be against the community rules.
In this second book on what he’s learned running Associa, Mr. Carona delves into what’s worked for his company in the area of customer service. He states that it starts with good internal “customer service”, hiring the right people, getting them properly trained, and creating a culture that values the employees so that they want to spread the goodwill to those outside.
Then he deals with external customer service, including that delicate balance between the customer’s desires and the client’s needs. A fast, accurate response is prized, and failure should lead to learning and improvement.
Mr. Carona also spends some time looking forward to the potential future of Associa, and what it will need to do to keep up with changing technology and culture.
While the emphasis is on what’s worked for Associa with relatively little comparison to other companies or fields of industry, each chapter comes with an inspirational quote and questions designed to let the reader decide for themselves how to apply the lessons in their own company.
The majority of this book is aimed at the executive and strategic levels, and has relatively little to offer the actual customer service worker in their day to day work. It’s also jargon-heavy, and uses a lot of corporate-speak, which can be a challenge to get through.
There’s a comprehensive index, which will be a great help to readers.
Overall, most recommended to upper-level managers who are in charge of setting up the customer service strategy for your company.
