Eye Opening Education on Customer Loyalty as the Best Defense Against Commoditization
591436
The book enlists customer loyalty as our best defense against being treated as a commodity.  Starting from lessons learned in the hospitality industry and in customer service of manufacturing, Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit brings wisdom across the business world.  The book is amazing in how eye-opening it was for me to apply to my professional service realm - architecture.  Other professional services such as doctors and lawyers can also learn a lot from authors Inghilleri and Solomon.

As a trustee on a non-profit board, I would also recommend this book to people in the non-profit world.  There are profound lessons here that can improve customer loyalty at independent schools, arts organizations, religious institutions, etc.

The book is structured around key touch points of customer interaction that offer a business the opportunities to move from good service to the exceptional service that builds customer loyalty.  These touch points include problem resolution and communications.  The authors provide both excellent directions and organizational systems that readers can adapt to their organizations.

I found it enlightening that strong emotional intelligence was an essential component of a lot of the path to customer loyalty.  Here are insights in how to improve one's emotional intelligence, arguments in favor of hiring for emotional intelligence, and systems to improve staff's emotional intelligence.

Business literature touches frequently, but in general terms on the "experience economy."  Inghilleri and Solomon provide valuable guidance in how to manage a customer's experience.  With humor and anecdotes they provide excellent insights into what works and what does not work.  With my new sensitivity to customers' experiences from the book, I am now continually seeing businesses trying to please customers while at the same time they are annoying them.  As so few businesses achieve exceptional service, there is great opportunity to win new loyal customers by applying the wisdom of this book.

I heartily recommend Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit to improve your business and emotional intelligence.

Roderick Wolfson, AIA, LEED AP
Wolfson Architect
Ardmore, PA
6359
This is one of the most important books on sales and customer service to come along in 20 years. Jeffrey Gitomer follows up "The Sales Bible" with this inspiring look at how anyone can generate loyal, lifelong customers.
Gitomer has a wonderful intolerable of shoddy customer service that is apparent througout the book. In addition to the expected stories of lousy service, Gittomer recounts tales of WOW-level customer service that nearly brought tears to my eyes. I especially loved his specific examples of the simple things that anyone can do to delight their customers.
Filled with humor and great passion for its subject, this is a book I'll be using for years to come. This book is priceless for anyone for who comes into contact with customers.
Steven Salta, Excell Data Corporation
3869297
Bob Thompson's insightful new book, Hooked on Customers, covers all of the most important  enterprise customer-centricity, experience optimization, and stakeholder behavior landscape bases. Notable in the book are deep discussions of culture, brand and innovation effect, employee roles in driving customer value, data leverage, and customer research, and  the real meanings and value of satisfaction, loyalty, effort, recommendation, advocacy, and delight.  Every manager, irrespective of function, will find this an informative and contemporary reference
1734974
Klein has done her research and this book is a real eye-opener for any average consumer, such as myself. I'm not about to take to the streets smashing up MacDonalds stores in protest. But it will affect the way I look at consumerism and global branding in the future. It has also given me a greater understanding of the mind-set of those that do choose to protest consumerism and global capitalism and what they feel they are fighting against.
4586704
A thought provoking book filled with an abundance of relevant and critical supply management concepts that will surely enhance the effectiveness of your supply chain function; and, your entire organization.  I particularly enjoyed the content pertaining to the successful, continuous management of human capital as well as the importance of minimizing complexity when applicable.  Throughout this book, topics are substantiated by several interesting, pertinent business examples and the authors offer appropriate, entertaining commentary that invokes a sense of personality in the text.  Enjoy!
3463432
Customer Winback broaches a topic that is applicable to infinitely many businesses. Thoughtful and well-organized, this book teems with appropriate examples for readers on a quest to "winback" customers. The real value in this book is the depth of information Griffin and Lowenstein provide. Rather than simply providing the reader with top-line information, they delve deep into their own knowledge base and extensive research on the topic to present the reader with useful approaches to winning back those much-desired customers!
203963
This book is easy to read, and even easier to misunderstand. It's not about TV ads that use emotions to peddle products.  It's about making customers feel as if they have a personal friendship with the brands they choose. It offers crucial insights into the cause and affect relationship between customer loyalty and the emotions that customers have for brands.  It's a must read for marketing executives looking for next big idea. Unfortunately, it's missing  a chapter on measurement. Students should read it in conjunction with Fredrick Reichheld's books on customer loyalty.
4545741
In the not so distant past, customers and potential customers actually listened to what companies said about themselves, and the products and services they offer. Not anymore. Micah Solomons latest eBook takes us from a real assessment of the millennial generation to the new loyalty dynamic to the relentless reinvention of customer experience that all companies must act on now.

In typical Micah style, this eBook is always insightful, offers a unique perspective, and is highly entertaining.  The pages fly by!
2971230
Can your customers tell the difference between you and your competition? Scott McKain's premise in Collapse of Distinction (published by Thomas Nelson) is that a lack of distinctiveness is fatal to business. Describing the collapse of distinction as a "cultural phenomenon as well as a corporate and professional nightmare," McKain insists that in today's environment, when businesses in any given industry or profession are devolving to a "beige uniformity," distinctiveness, or differentiation, is the key to business success. His new book makes a convincing case for this proposition, and offers tools for achieving the kind of differentiation he champions.

After summarizing the developments that led to today's prevailing culture of sameness, McKain then identifies the pathways to a distinctiveness that will make a business stand out among its peers, garnering positive attention - and profitable business - from current and prospective customers and clients. He argues that when every business in an industry is doing the same things in the same way, eventually the only way to compete is on price, and this is the worst possible place for a business to be in. Rather than focusing on what the competition is doing (and trying to incrementally "one-up" them), McKain advocates developing a "customer-experience focus," positing that "the purpose of any business is to profitably create experiences so compelling to the customers that their loyalty becomes assured." Collapse of Distinction describes in useful detail a means for accomplishing that purpose.

I found this book to be well written, informative, and though-provoking. McKain offers specific practical suggestions and action steps at the end of each chapter to help the business owner or professional develop and execute a plan for differentiating itself from its competition. I plan to re-read Collapse of Distinction with a pen and paper nearby, taking notes and forming a plan of my own for my law practice.

I recommend this book to any business owner or professional responsible for building a clientele. Church leaders interested in growing their church also could glean a lot of useful ideas from Collapse of Distinction.
1304760
Vance Packard exposed the hidden force behind the drive of our excessive consumerism. The Hidden Persuaders is packed with information that pertains our wallets, our weaknesses, and the psychological warfare the merchants have among themselves to get their hands on our hard earned money. This book is a must to read and to have in our personal library. I am very happy with my purchase. The price was fair, the condition of the book as advertised, and the service excellent. Thank you very much.
462827
You think you know why customers choose your company? You will change your mind after you read this compelling and practical guide to  developing winning approaches to real competitive advantage. Members of my peer advisory board of CEOs and business owners are glad they did.

Jaynie teaches you how to find out what strengths customers really value, then use these insights to focus everything -- yes, everything: operations, investments and communications -- to eat your competition's lunch.

Stephen H. Baum
[...]
541721
Stick like glue is a great book focusing on creating long-term customer relationships.  Jim does a great job pointing out the life time value of a customer and helps the reader understand simple methods to retain and grow your customer base.  Jim is known as the newsletter guru and also includes some very practical tips on why you would want to effectively use newsletters on a regular basis.  Finally, the book also does a good job explaining how to grow your business simply by listening to your customers and providing them with the additional goods and services they need.

Stick Like Glue is a must read for entrepreneurs and business owners looking to expand during our current tough economic times.  I highly recommend it to everyone!

Jim Ingersoll
Author, "Investing Now"
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Investing-Now-An-Insiders-Guide-to-Flipping-Houses-For-Income-Today/dp/1456308750/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Investing Now: An Insiders Guide to Flipping Houses For Income Today</a>
3333752
Fascinating perspective on how responding to negative feedback helps companies grow. At a time when we appear to be more polarized than at any point in history, and "hating" (i.e., saying something contrarian, negative, or unpopular) is considered a mortal sin by much of society (and therefore marginalized or even suppressed), it is truly *refreshing* to hear that those companies who not only listen to but fully *engage* "haters" are rewarded for their efforts. This book helped me think differently about the role of "haters" in business growth, gave me a number of good ideas to recommend to clients who seek to improve customer loyalty, and inspired me to work on thickening my skin so I, too, can benefit from engaging my "haters." (Can I just say that I hate the term "haters," though? I get that it works beautifully for the book title, and is easily understood by the masses. But it lends too much legitimacy to a term that has served to squelch debate around the world. It's the lazy person's way to quickly shut down a conversation when she realizes she's lost an argument on merit.)
3249181
This is one of several excellent volumes in the University of Michigan Business School Management Series in which the authors provide a cohesive, comprehensive, cost-effective customer measurement and management system which consists of five separate but related stages. Specifically, they explain:
? How to identify the system?s purpose and goals, deciding which customers to include and how to group them into natural segments that reflect their interests and purchasing patterns
? How to use qualitative research to build the ?lens of the customer?, a model of customer views of the products and services that you provide, customer satisfaction, and the loyalty and retention that result
? How to use the lens of the customer to build a customer survey to measure quality, satisfaction, and loyalty
? How to use the lens again in analyzing data from the customer survey, both to determine what could be done to improve customer satisfaction and to assess the probable effect of each potential improvement on bottom-line financial performance
? How to set priorities for quality improvement, using the information developed from the survey as background for business decisions, and then implement the decisions according to the priorities set by management
Whew! That?s a lot! Fortunately, Johnson and Gustafsson devote a separate chapter to each of the five stages of the process.. They also provide three valuable appendices: A mini-case study of the Ratorp Tire Company, the NACS Customer Satisfaction Survey, and a Data Analysis in Practice. If your organization needs to improve customer satisfaction, loyalty, and profit, here is an excellent source.
2991112
This is a great book for anyone trying to understand and develop a meaningful framework for customer engagement.  I would highly recommend this book.... I also had an opportunity to speak to the author, his is not only extremely brilliant but also just a great guy! I will be reading more of his books.
3504947
Managing Customer Value presents a simple yet powerful method to determine where your product falls relative to the competition with respect to quality and value. This exercise alone will most likely be an eye opener for any business. The book then provides the necessary steps that must be taken to shift the location of a product on the quality/value curve. Managing Customer Value is still highly relevant and best of all it is not that difficult to put into practice.
3547244
This book is an eye-opener! Pringle and Thompson have given us a how-to manual on the art and science of cause related marketing. Solidly researched and documented, engagingly written, and replete with case studies from both sides of the Atlantic, Brand Spirit makes a convincing case for the efficacy and the ethics of doing well by doing good. No serious marketing practitioner can afford to remain uninformed about the cogent argument the book advances.
Koil Rowland, founder and retired CEO
Koil Rowland & Associates Jefferson City, Missouri, USA