The Best Service is No Service
- edd220
- Feb 5
- 3 min read
It has been nearly two decades since Bill Price and David Jaffe published The Best Service is No Service, yet its core message remains just as relevant today. The best customer service is not about handling interactions more efficiently; it is about making them unnecessary in the first place.
The book challenges companies to rethink service by preventing issues rather than just optimizing responses. The first two chapters introduce this mindset and lay the foundation for the book’s seven guiding principles, which focus on reducing service demand at its source. Instead of perfecting how problems are handled, the real opportunity is ensuring they do not happen in the first place.
The book covers a wide range of examples and strategies that are still valuable today, even if some feel slightly dated. It is worth reading in full, but for this article, I am focusing only on the first two chapters, as they provide the foundation for the book’s core argument.
Let’s be honest. No one wakes up excited to contact customer service. They just want things to work. If they have to reach out, something has already gone wrong. That is why Price and Jaffe encourage companies to challenge the need for service rather than just making it more efficient.
Yet many CX leaders remain trapped in a cycle of service optimization, pressured to cut costs and improve efficiency without addressing why customers need support in the first place. Companies have poured resources into shortening calls, outsourcing, expanding digital and self-service channels, and now integrating AI to handle interactions. While these can be useful, they often take so much focus that little attention is left for the bigger opportunity: stopping unnecessary contacts before they happen.
Top 3 Takeaways from the First 2 Chapters
Eliminating unnecessary contacts creates space for high-value engagements. Poor communication, confusing policies, broken processes, and product quality issues create unnecessary service interactions that overwhelm support teams. Addressing these root causes reduces low-value inquiries, freeing up time and resources for meaningful customer engagements that strengthen relationships.
Respecting the customer’s time should be the priority, not just internal efficiency and cost reduction. Too often, companies focus on shortening calls, outsourcing, and automating interactions to save money while ignoring the bigger opportunity of preventing service needs altogether. As Steve Jarvis, former VP of Sales and Customer Experience at Alaska Airlines, put it, “We know our customers’ time is valuable, and we want to make every interaction with us as effortless as possible.” Nearly two decades later, the message still holds true. Customers do not want faster resolutions to avoidable problems; they want those problems not to exist at all.
Shifting from reactive service to proactive prevention requires a culture change. Customer service should not just be a cost to manage; it should be a strategic function that improves value for customers, employees, and partners. Respecting their time means not wasting it, whether they are customers trying to use your services, employees handling unnecessary contacts, or partners navigating inefficient processes.
How PodiumCX Leverages The Best Service is No Service
At PodiumCX, we help organizations shift from optimizing service to eliminating unnecessary demand. Rather than just improving efficiency, we focus on building cross-functional relationships that bring leaders together to improve the end-to-end experience. By aligning teams around challenging demand and eliminating low-value interactions, we help organizations create more meaningful customer engagements.
Final Thoughts
Imagine riding a long route and constantly stopping to fix a flat tire. You could carry extra tubes, get faster at repairs, or even call for a support vehicle. But the real solution is to figure out why you’re getting flats in the first place, maybe it’s the wrong tires or rough roads you could avoid.
The same applies to customer service. Too many organizations focus on managing service demand instead of eliminating the reasons customers need help. Respecting customers, employees, and partners means respecting their time. The first two chapters of The Best Service is No Service lay the foundation for making that shift. For CX leaders ready to break free from the cycle of endless service optimization, this book provides the foundation to start eliminating unnecessary customer contacts for good.
Visit www.podiumcx.com to see how we can help drive meaningful change with a customer experience strategy tailored to your organization.
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