Mini-Case: Providing Good Customer Service A classic Sloan Management Review article by Schlesinger and of department stores whose reputation for service is, well, shy of Heskett, titled, "Breaking the Cycle of Failure in Services" teaches us Nordstrom's. How do you intervene? Do you start paying your people that customer satisfaction depends on a number of things, including more, hoping to make them happy? (But they were hired haphaz employee satisfaction! They basically say, if you were smart to be ardly and may not be "worth" it.) Do you fire your current employees selective in hiring, and you try to enrich your employees by training in order to start over? (Can you spell "lawsuit"?) them well, and keep them happy by paying them well and giving Here is a simple version of the cycle. Where would you break in to them other perks, they'll stay with your firm. Their staying is impor- fix it? tant because they know the company and the brand, and whenever customers have questions, the employees can answer them fully. Cycle of Employee-Customer Satisfaction Similarly, if the customer has a problem, the employees are better able to help the customer and fix the problem. The customer service is good, and the customers go away happy, which also makes the Employee employees happy, etc. Satisfaction In contrast, imagine a "cycle of failure." If you hire people without Good much screening, and train and pay them minimally, they're not likely Employee Customer Training Service to give a hoot about your brand or customers. The customers will pick up on this attitude. The employees are also going to be less Customer likely to be motivated to "go above and beyond the call" to make Employee Satisfaction Selection the customers happy, and, indeed, the customers are likely to leave being dissatisfied, or at least unimpressed. Customer Loyalty Here's the tricky part. What if you are in such a cycle of fail- ure? How do you break it? Imagine you are the CMO for a chain