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Kayak co-founder on customer service
Paul English, co-founder of Kayak, in an Inc. magazine profile:
If you make the engineers answer e-mails and phone calls from the customers, the second or third time they get the same question, they'll actually stop what they're doing and fix the code. Then we don't have those questions anymore.
Other tips I liked: get an especially annoying ring on the customer service phone; send out a random customer service email to the company and investors; measure revenue per employee; don't read business books.
English says he also works with Partners In Health, which is one of the nonprofits I recommend for donations for Haitian relief.
Mark, great posting. I hadn't see the quote you referenced so thanks for sharing. Here is what I just posted to build on this idea: http://cisjustaletter.com/2010/01/30/great-product-service-aligns-all-offices/