Synopses & Reviews
Who Stole My Customer?? offers unique and powerful insights into the world of acquiring and retaining customers. Most importantly it provides new approaches to keeping existing customers from defection. A must-read in today's challenging business environment.
–Dieter Huckenstein, President, Hotel Operations, Hilton Hotels Corporation
Harvey Thompson probably knows more about how companies should work with customers than anyone else in the world. In an age when computers and mass communications makes it difficult to keep or attract new customers, Thompson's insights on what managers must do to keep them makes this one of the most important business books published this year. Clearly must reading for all levels of management.
–James W. Cortada, IBM Institute for Business Value
Harvey Thompson has done it again with this well-written book that offers valuable insights about the roots of sustained corporate greatness. He captures a lifetime of building winning formulas and puts them into a simple and practical context for executives at any level looking to take their business to the next level in the 21st century.
–Mark R. Richards, President, Structures Division, Valmont Industries, Inc.
One of the leading causes of the rapid turnover of marketing and sales executives isn't the economy, it's the ignored cancer of customer attrition. Who Stole My Customer?? takes on this challenge head-on and tackles it from a pragmatic perspective with actions you can take today.
–Louis Columbus, Senior Analyst, AMR Research
I think Harvey Thompson really understands how customers feel about products and services-for better or worse! His central point is well taken-take care of them now or lose them to competitors who are more in tune with your customers' needs and wants. This book helps us remember that we must build our offerings from the 'outside in' to build customer loyalty and minimize defection. Thank you, Mr. Thompson!"
–Bill Ghormley, Executive Consultant, The Forum Corporation, and Past President, The Marketing Science Institute
A start-to-finish program for addressing your #1 challenge: customer retention
Who's stealing your customers? Why is it happening? How can you stop it? These are the toughest questions facing virtually every enterprise. Who Stole My Customer?? is your complete guide to planning and implementing customer loyalty processes that really work-because they're built around what your customers really want.
Harvey Thompson helps you view your business and its processes through your customer's eyes … and you might be shocked at what you see. You'll systematically discover the real drivers of customer loyalty in your business, so you can focus your customer relationship investments for maximum value. Drawing on his unsurpassed experience at IBM and other world-class enterprises, Thompson shows exactly how to rebuild every touchpoint around your customer's needs … and overcome every obstacle that stands in your way. You won't just improve customer retention for a quarter or two: you'll build resilient customer relationships that resist competition for years to come.
Current customers are up to nine times as profitable as new ones, but keeping customers has never been tougher. Traditional "customer satisfaction" programs and "Have a Nice Day" platitudes won't cut it anymore. It's time you developed a customer-defined, outside-in vision of your business, plus the capabilities and infrastructure to make it real. Who Stole My Customer?? shows you how to do it. Harvey Thompson led customer-focused process improvement at Lou Gerstner's IBM, helping to drive one of the greatest transformations in business history. Drawing on his experiences with IBM and other world-class enterprises, he'll help you discover how your customers have changed, what they're expecting now, which facets of customer satisfaction actually drive loyalty … and where you're most vulnerable.
Next, Thompson shows you exactly what to do about it. You'll learn how to engineer a winning customer experience around your customer's view of the world, and how to "institutionalize" loyalty, making it resilient enough to resist virtually any competitor.
- A systematic, customer-centered approach to retention. Rebuilding your processes around your customer's real needs and desires.
- Your customers have changed. Have you? Why your traditional strengths may now be fatal weaknesses.
- Investing to improve loyalty, not just satisfaction. Which aspects of customer satisfaction drive retention-and which don't.
- Different drivers for different customers. Segmenting your customers for improved retention.
- From vision to reality. Implementing world-class customer loyalty capabilities and infrastructure.
- "Institutionalizing" customer loyalty for the long term. Staying "glued" to your customers-no matter what your competitors do.
Review
Praise for Who Stole My Customer??
"Everyone talks about becoming a customer-centered company. This practical and
readable book shows how actually to make it happen." --Dr. Michael Hammer,
Author of the international bestseller Reengineering the Corporation
"Who Stole My Customer?? offers unique and powerful insights into the world of
acquiring and retaining customers. Most importantly it provides new approaches
to keeping existing customers from defection. A must-read in today's challenging
business environment." --Dieter Huckenstein, President, Hotel Operations, Hilton
Hotels Corporation
"Harvey Thompson probably knows more about how companies should work with
customers than anyone else in the world. In an age when computers and mass
communications make it difficult to keep or attract new customers, Thompson's
insights on what managers must do to keep them make this one of the most
important business books published this year. Clearly must reading for all
levels of management." --James W. Cortada, IBM Institute for Business Value
"Harvey Thompson has done it again with this well-written book that offers
valuable insights about the roots of sustained corporate greatness. He captures
a lifetime of building winning formulas and puts them into a simple and
practical context for executives at any level looking to take their business to
the next level in the 21st century." --Mark R. Richards, President, Structures
Division, Valmont Industries, Inc.
"One of the leading causes of the rapid turnover of marketing and sales
executives isn't the economy, it's the ignored cancer of customer attrition. Who
Stole My Customer takes this challenge head-on and tackles it from a pragmatic
perspective with actions you can take today." --Louis Columbus, Senior Analyst,
AMR Research
"I think Harvey Thompson really understands how customers feel about products
and services--for better or worse! His central point is well taken--take care of
them now or lose them to competitors who are more in tune with your customers'
needs and wants. This book helps us remember that we must build our offerings
from the 'outside in' to build customer loyalty and minimize defection. Thank
you, Mr. Thompson!" --Bill Ghormley, Executive Consultant, The Forum
Corporation, and Past President, The Marketing Science Institute
"With many customers focused on the 'next innovation,' Harvey Thompson
straightforwardly breaks down the process for examining customer touchpoints and
defection drivers and for recognizing and exploiting customer loyalty. Thompson
also reaffirms the next value proposition in customer service: the customer's
need for a solution. With that framework, he insightfully turns the magnifying
glass 180 degrees to elicit the reader's experience as a customer. This help
drive home his message that a good part of success in customer acquisition and
retention is dependent on continual reexamination of customer 'needs.'"
--Michael Perry, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, IndyMac Bank
Review
Synopsis
Who's stealing your customers? Why is it happening? How can you stop it? These are the toughest questions facing virtually every enterprise. Who Stole My Customer?? is your complete guide to planning and implementing customer loyalty processes that really work-because they're built around what your customers really want.
Harvey Thompson helps you view your business and its processes through your customer's eyes … and you might be shocked at what you see. You'll systematically discover the real drivers of customer loyalty in your business, so you can focus your customer relationship investments for maximum value. Drawing on his unsurpassed experience at IBM and other world-class enterprises, Thompson shows exactly how to rebuild every touchpoint around your customer's needs … and overcome every obstacle that stands in your way.
You won't just improve customer retention for a quarter or two: you'll build resilient customer relationships that resist competition for years to come.
About the Author
Harvey Thompson is a leading executive consultant who specializes in helping major companies become more customer-centric and customer-preferred. He formerly served as IBM's Global Executive for customer-focused business strategy and design, where he led the development and deployment of innovative, customer-focused business process improvement approaches that have been used successfully throughout IBM and other Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies worldwide.
An internationally respected expert on customer loyalty, Thompson has been published, interviewed, and/or cited by publications such as Newsweek, The Economist, Investor's Business Daily, PC Week, and The Journal of Business Strategy. He serves as an editorial board member for the Europe-based Journal of Financial Services Marketing.
He has been a regular guest/executive lecturer at the Advanced Business Institute in New York and the International Executive Education Centers in Brussels, Belgium and Milan, Italy, and often serves as keynoter or featured speaker at professional conferences on customer service or customer relationship and loyalty management throughout Europe, Asia, and North America.
Table of Contents
Preface.
Introduction.
I. CUSTOMER DEFECTION: THE CASE FOR ACTION. 1. When Prior Strengths Become Your Weaknesses.
2. A Boutique, Alternative Strategy of the 1990s.
3. A Survival Issue and Strategic Imperative of the 2000s.
II. UNDERSTANDING LOYALTY: A PIE PAN OF NEEDS. 4. Product vs Service Slices.
5. Customer Segmentation and Targeting.
III. INTEGRATING TWO VIEWS: OPPORTUNITY VS RISK. 6. Opportunity: The Customer View.
7. Risk: The Company Culture.
IV. THE WINNING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE. 8. What They Want: Ten Myths about Your Customers.
9. What They Need: Customer Visioneering.
10. What You Must Do: Institutionalize Loyalty.
Epilogue.
Who Stole My Customer??
Acknowledgments.
About the Author.
Index.