Synopses & Reviews
While there are growing technological solutions for many challenges that companies face, organizations often struggle to really improve one of the most important: the sales and service experiences they offer customers. Despite extensive--and expensive--efforts, this critical competitive edge remains out of reach for many.
In Give Them What They Want, Bill Price and David Jaffe reveal the truth about how the best organizations design, measure, and deliver great customer serivce experiences. Based on extensive research into top-performing organizations, they have devised 7 simple principles based on the expressions from customers and employees that correspond with the highest customer retention--and therefore sustained profits. These 7 drivers of great customer experience are:
- You know me, you remember me
- You give me choices
- You make it easy for me
- You value me
- You trust me
- You surprise me withstuff that I can't imagine
- You make me better and let me do more
Alongside these 7 drivers, the authors share examples of companies who succeed at customer experience, such as Amazon, Apple, BankWest (Australia), Danaher/Fluke, DIRECTV, FlightCentre, the Gates Foundation, GraniteRock, Honda, Joie de Vivre Hospitality, Kohler, RACV, Starbucks, Telefonica O2, T-Mobile, USAA, Ventre-Privee, and Yamato Transport.
With a simple, elegant solution for driving lasting value for customers by providing a great customer experience, Give Them What They Want is essential reading for store managers, contact center managers, leaders of customer-facing teams, and executives.
Synopsis
What you need to know about your customers Now more than ever, every interaction you have with customers is critical. Customers today have unlimited information at their fingertips--and can influence the purchase decisions and behaviors of millions of others. With this comes a shift in the balance of power, and every company must come to terms with the fact that the customer is in control. Interacting with customers in the way they want is an essential business strategy and in many industries, the key to business success.
Executives still refer to B2B and B2C business models, as though companies control demand by going to customers with products and services. But as Bill Price and David Jaffe (authors of The Best Service is No Service) show, a new business model is emerging in which the customer directs the relationship. It is becoming a world of -Me2B---one in which the customer, not the business, dictates the terms of engagement. In order for your business to thrive, you must create positive experiences to fulfill a range of customer needs.
Though the mediums for customer engagement continuously evolve, Price and Jaffe show that customer needs remain unchanging. In Your Customer Rules , they define a critical hierarchy of seven needs that your company can meet and apply as a methodology.
Throughout this practical guidebook, Price and Jaffe share examples of companies who succeed by meeting these seven needs, including Amazon, Apple, IKEA, Nordstrom, USAA, Shoes of Prey, Vente-Privee, and Yamato Transport, as well as those that didn't. Your Customer Rules offers tailored advice for companies at every stage, from nimble startups to legacy firms with established customer service practices--and everyone in between.
With a simple, elegant solution for driving lasting value for customers, Your Customer Rules is a clear guide for strengthening customer relationships and competing on more than price. It is essential reading for executives at all levels--business owners, marketing managers, and anyone who works directly with customers.