A complaint is a chance to turn a customer into a lifelong friend. I say that seriously, not as some press release baloney.

Your company’s most valuable asset is how it is known to its customers.

I don’t know about you, but most of my exchanges with cashiers are not that meaningful.

We don’t get to know people when they come to us; we must go to them to find out what they are like.

I get asked a lot why Apple’s customers are so loyal. It’s not because they belong to the Church of Mac! That’s ridiculous.

A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.

This is an elegant hotel! Room service has an unlisted number.

I’ve sat in sushi bars, really fine ones, and I know how hard this guy worked, how proud he is. I know you don’t need sauce. I know he doesn’t even want you to pour sauce. And I’ve seen customers come in and do that, and I’ve seen him, as stoic as he tries to remain, I’ve seen him die a little inside.

A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.

I went to a general store. They wouldn’t let me buy anything specifically.

Our DNA is as a consumer company – for that individual customer who’s voting thumbs up or thumbs down. That’s who we think about. And we think that our job is to take responsibility for the complete user experience. And if it’s not up to par, it’s our fault, plain and simply.

Never say no when a client asks for something, even if it is the moon. You can always try, and anyhow there is plenty of time afterwards to explain that it was not possible.

Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.

I’d just like to be treated like a regular customer.

The funny thing is people won’t let me pay for things. I’ll be in a restaurant and the manager will say, ‚Oh no, it’s on the house.‘

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.

I went to a general store but they wouldn’t let me buy anything specific.

In business, the idea of measuring what you are doing, picking the measurements that count like customer satisfaction and performance… you thrive on that.

If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.

If you ask the CEO of some major corporation what he does, he will say, in all honesty, that he is slaving 20 hours a day to provide his customers with the best goods or services he can and creating the best possible working conditions for his employees.

Why go to a machine when you could go to a human being?

You want your customers to value your service.

Nothing ruins your day more than getting a bad review.

So I’ve seen life as one long learning process. And if I see – you know, if I fly on somebody else’s airline and find the experience is not a pleasant one, which it wasn’t in – 21 years ago, then I’d think, well, you know, maybe I can create the kind of airline that I’d like to fly on.

I’ve always had my own access to the public, because I started off making my clothes for a little shop, and so I’ve always had people buying them. I could always sell a few, even if I couldn’t sell a lot, and somehow my business grew because people happened to like it. I’m in a fortunate position.

At Facebook, we build tools to help people connect with the people they want and share what they want, and by doing this we are extending people’s capacity to build and maintain relationships.

I think we understand that for the Court to work well, we have to not only respect but genuinely like each other.

I don’t want to hear the specials. If they’re so special, put ‚em on the menu.

This is what customers pay us for – to sweat all these details so it’s easy and pleasant for them to use our computers. We’re supposed to be really good at this. That doesn’t mean we don’t listen to customers, but it’s hard for them to tell you what they want when they’ve never seen anything remotely like it.

When I was climbing, I built up a close relationship with the Sherpa people.

Some companies out there quote a start of production that is substantially in advance of when customers get their cars.

If I’ve got a problem with one of my clients that needs to get solved, guess what I’m going to do? I’m going to call them up, and I’m going to say, ‚Hey, here’s what’s going on. This is the situation. This thing went sideways. I didn’t expect it. Now it’s going to take me some more time to get you what you need.‘ But I’m going to do that upfront.

You should not build your customer service system on the premise that your organisation will never question the whims of your clients.

By putting the employee first, the customer effectively comes first by default, and in the end, the shareholder comes first by default as well.

Diplomacy is listening to what the other guy needs. Preserving your own position, but listening to the other guy. You have to develop relationships with other people so when the tough times come, you can work together.

I bought some batteries, but they weren’t included.

I had a great time being a salesman because of the pitches that I gave when I was selling shoes. However, I don’t think I’m as well versed in shoes as I am in comedy. Being a salesman was all about being a people person, and I enjoy being around people. I also love talking to people – which is why I think I did so well.

We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.

The best customer service is if the customer doesn’t need to call you, doesn’t need to talk to you. It just works.

You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.