Two years ago, AmeriPride Services, a full-service laundry operating throughout North America, implemented a new customer service strategy. Twice a week, its customer service managers started riding with route drivers who reported to them. By doing so, managers could visit each of the company’s estimated 150,000 customers every quarter.
 
“We were so busy that our customer service managers were not spending a large amount of time in the field,” says Leo Smith, senior director of customer operations at AmeriPride Services based in Minnetonka, MN. “We adopted a completely different strategy, thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if our ...