needed to encourage business owners and their employees to understand this critical concept and apply it successfully to improve customer service. Perry Ludy, author, consultant and 30-year senior executive, has provided that approach in his new book, No Lizards in My Shoes. Written in the style of a business fable, Ludy’s book introduces readers to the principles of customer service through the story of Larry the Lizard and the Lizard Wizard. Larry is a rather shallow, good-for-nothing creature living the good life at a resort in Aruba. He knows that where humans gather, there are always succulent bugs. Surprisingly, he deduces for himself that it will be easier and less competitive to look for bugs in the guests’ closets at the resort. That is where he meets the Lizard Wizard. The characters’ clever repartee is sure to attract and engage readers of No Lizards in My Shoes, helping them develop into better customer service providers as the Wizard teaches Larry about this important concept. Larry and the Wizard travel through time, exploring the historical development of customer service as far back as the New Stone Age. As their journey continues to more recent eras and events, the Wizard explains how earlier examples have evolved into the customer service models that drive some of today’s most successful businesses: Motorola, GE, McDonald’s, Disney, REI and others. Beautifully illustrated, No Lizards in My Shoes is more than a business fable with a poignant ending. The author closes his book with two practical methods that any business and its employees can apply to exceed customer expectations. He introduces Great Employees Managing Service (GEMS) and Targeted Incentive Pay Systems (TIPS), two specific programs that can be applied to any customer environment. At the end of the book, the author introduces a new way to tip during a customer service scenario while in a restaurant. This concept not only offers a way to evaluate restaurants, suggested level of tipping but a way to communicate with the server as well as the manager or restaurant owner. This topic is sure to generate "buzz" around the Restaurant Industry. This book is a fable that any reader will enjoy and a parable that teaches the importance of individual responsibility for customer satisfaction, as represented by the transformation of Larry the Lizard into the next Lizard Wizard.

Hide more