Synopses & Reviews
Everyone knows that the bestand#160;way to create customer loyalty isand#160;with service so good, so over theand#160;top, that it surprises and delights.and#160;But what if everyone is wrong? In their acclaimed bestseller The Challenger Sale,and#160;Matthew Dixon and his colleagues at CEB bustedand#160;many longstanding myths about sales. Now theyand#8217;ve turned their research and analysis to a new vitaland#160;business subjectand#151;customer loyaltyand#151;with a new book that turns the conventional wisdom on its head.and#160;
The idea that companies must delight customersand#160;by exceeding service expectations is so entrenchedand#160;that managers rarely even question it. They devoteand#160;untold time, energy, and resources to trying toand#160;dazzle people and inspire their undying loyalty. Yetand#160;CEBand#8217;s careful research over five years and tens ofand#160;thousands of respondents proves that the and#147;dazzleand#160;factorand#8221; is wildly overratedand#151;it simply doesnand#8217;t predictand#160;repeat sales, share of wallet, or positive wordof-mouth. The reality:and#160;
Loyalty is driven by how well a company deliversand#160;on its basic promises and solves day-to-day problems,and#160;not on how spectacular its service experience mightand#160;be. Most customers donand#8217;t want to be and#147;wowedand#8221;; theyand#160;want an effortless experience. And they are far moreand#160;likely to punish you for bad service than to rewardand#160;you for good service.
If you put on your customer hat rather than yourand#160;manager or marketer hat, this makes a lot of sense.and#160;What do you really want from your cable company,and#160;a free month of HBO when it screws up or a fast,and#160;painless restoration of your connection? Whatand#160;about your bankand#151;do you want free cookies and aand#160;cheerful smile, even a personal relationship withand#160;your teller? Or just a quick in-and-out transactionand#160;and an easy way to get a refund when it accidentallyand#160;overcharges on fees?
The Effortless Experience takes readers on aand#160;fascinating journey deep inside the customer experienceand#160;to reveal what really makes customersand#160;loyaland#151;and disloyal. The authors lay out the fourand#160;key pillars of a low-effort customer experience,and#160;along the way delivering robust data, shocking insightsand#160;and profiles of companies that are alreadyand#160;using the principles revealed by CEBand#8217;s research,and#160;with great results. And they includeand#160;many tools andand#160;templates you can start applying right away toand#160;improve service, reduce costs, decrease customerand#160;churn, and ultimately generate the elusive loyaltyand#160;that the and#147;dazzle factorand#8221; fails to deliver.and#160;
The rewards are there for the taking, and theand#160;pathway to achieving them is now clearly marked.
Review
“The history of sales has been one of steady progress interrupted by a few real breakthroughs that have changed the whole direction of the profession. These breakthroughs, marked by radical new thinking and dramatic improvements in sales results, have been rare. . . . Which brings me to The Challenger Sale and the work of the Sales Executive Council. . . . On the face of it, their research has all the initial signs that it may be game-changing. . . . My advice is this: Read it, think about it, implement it. You, and your organization, will be glad you did.”—Professor Neil Rackham, author of SPIN Selling, from the foreword “The amazing thing is that the Challenger sales rep has been hiding in plain sight all these years. The Challenger Sale breaks the winning elements of this powerful approach into a set of teachable skills that can take even a top sales team to a new level of results delivery.”—Dan James, former chief sales officer, DuPont “This is a must-read book for every sales professional. The authors’ groundbreaking research explains how the rules for selling have changed—and what to do about it. If you don’t want to be left behind, don’t miss this innovative book that provides the new formula for selling success.”—Ken Revenaugh, vice president, sales operations, Oakwood Temporary Housing “Groundbreaking, timely, and disciplined research—presented in a way that is both intuitive and completely actionable—that has already had an impact on our organization by creating a customer lens that enhanced our sales recruiting, hiring, training, and deployment.”—Jeff Connor, senior vice president and chief growth officer, ARAMARK Global Food, Hospitality and Facility Services “The Challenger Sale shows you how to maintain control of the complex sale. The output of this superbly researched body of work is that you will know how to better differentiate your organization, your offering, and yourself in the mind of the customer.”—Adrian Norton, vice president, sales, Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals “There is a healthy dose of constructive tension throughout this brilliant book. Tension that will bring insight and clarity into how customers buy today and how your sales team must sell. If you are seeking to raise the bar in your sales organization, The Challenger Sale is a must-read.”—Tom Meek, vice president, sales, Henkel Adhesives Technologies
Review
and#8220;This is what every business book should be like: stuffed with practical advice, wellsupportedand#160;by research, and written to keep you eagerly flipping the pages.and#8221; and#8212;
DAN HEATH, coauthor of
Decisive, Switch, and Made to Stick, from the foreword
and#8220;Most current customer support and customer experience improvement programs areand#160;merely replays of age-old concepts with some new terminology thrown in. The customerand#160;effort research and approach recounted here is different. It is truly the first really noveland#160;idea that Iand#8217;ve heardand#8212;and implementedand#8212;in a long time. This is an approach that drivesand#160;innovative, significant improvement within my teams . . . actions grounded in solid data . . .and#160;actions that yield measurable, customer-visible results that we just couldnand#8217;t achieve viaand#160;other means. It really has changed the way I think about the support my team delivers.and#8221; and#8212;DAN ROURKE, director of software support, HomeAway, Inc.
and#8220;A must-have for any true customer experience leaderand#8217;s library. Matt, Nick, and Rick areand#160;the and#8216;MythBustersand#8217; of customer experience, dispelling many commonly held but inaccurateand#160;beliefs around the drivers of disloyalty and delight and what will really drive true valueand#160;to your business.and#8221;
and#8212;LYNN HOLMGREN, vice president, customerand#160;experience strategy, Frontier Communications
and#8220;If you are looking for one resource to keep on your desk that will bring you back to theand#160;right focus for delivering a better customer service, this is that resource.and#8221; and#8212;CHRIS HALE, vice president, reservation services, Hyatt
and#8220;Every business is looking for the secret to creating loyal customers. This book not onlyand#160;builds a compelling case for effortless customer experiences being the key to loyalty, butand#160;also provides a clear road map for any business to achieve that goal. Itand#8217;s a must-read!and#8221; and#8212;DEB OLER, vice president and general manager, Grainger Brand, W. W. Grainger
and#8220;Whatand#8217;s brilliant about The Effortless Experience is its pragmatism, illustrated by the observationand#160;that we can easily make things worse for customers and often do more harmand#160;than good. Here is real, practical, implementable guidance to help avoid those pitfalls.and#8221; and#8212;RICHARD JOYCE, operations director, Home Retail Group Customer Services
and#8220;The Effortless Experience provides a well-researched foundation for customer experienceand#160;transformation. Reducing customer effort links the work of the service organization toand#160;the business-wide goal of increasing customer loyalty. The concepts themselves areand#160;pragmatic and actionable and this book will get you under way.and#8221; and#8212;SUE ATKINS, head of service experience, Telecom NZ Ltd and#160;
Synopsis
Everyone knows that the bestway to create customer loyalty iswith service so good, so over thetop, that it surprises and delights.But what if everyone is wrong?
In their acclaimed bestseller The Challenger Sale, Matthew Dixon and his colleagues at CEB bustedmany longstanding myths about sales. Now they veturned their research and analysis to a new vitalbusiness subject customer loyalty with a new book that turns the conventional wisdom on its head.
The idea that companies must delight customersby exceeding service expectations is so entrenchedthat managers rarely even question it. They devoteuntold time, energy, and resources to trying todazzle people and inspire their undying loyalty. YetCEB s careful research over five years and tens ofthousands of respondents proves that the dazzlefactor is wildly overrated it simply doesn t predictrepeat sales, share of wallet, or positive wordof-mouth. The reality:
Loyalty is driven by how well a company deliverson its basic promises and solves day-to-day problems, not on how spectacular its service experience mightbe. Most customers don t want to be wowed; theywant an effortless experience. And they are far morelikely to punish you for bad service than to rewardyou for good service.
If you put on your customer hat rather than yourmanager or marketer hat, this makes a lot of sense.What do you really want from your cable company, a free month of HBO when it screws up or a fast, painless restoration of your connection? Whatabout your bank do you want free cookies and acheerful smile, even a personal relationship withyour teller? Or just a quick in-and-out transactionand an easy way to get a refund when it accidentallyovercharges on fees?
The Effortless Experience takes readers on afascinating journey deep inside the customer experienceto reveal what really makes customersloyal and disloyal. The authors lay out the fourkey pillars of a low-effort customer experience, along the way delivering robust data, shocking insightsand profiles of companies that are alreadyusing the principles revealed by CEB s research, with great results. And they includemany tools andtemplates you can start applying right away toimprove service, reduce costs, decrease customerchurn, and ultimately generate the elusive loyaltythat the dazzle factor fails to deliver.
The rewards are there for the taking, and thepathway to achieving them is now clearly marked.
"
Synopsis
What's the secret to sales success? If you're like most business leaders, you'd say it's fundamentally about relationships-and you'd be wrong. The best salespeople don't just build relationships with customers. They challenge them.
The need to understand what top-performing reps are doing that their average performing colleagues are not drove Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson, and their colleagues at Corporate Executive Board to investigate the skills, behaviors, knowledge, and attitudes that matter most for high performance. And what they discovered may be the biggest shock to conventional sales wisdom in decades.
Based on an exhaustive study of thousands of sales reps across multiple industries and geographies, The Challenger Sale argues that classic relationship building is a losing approach, especially when it comes to selling complex, large-scale business-to-business solutions. The authors' study found that every sales rep in the world falls into one of five distinct profiles, and while all of these types of reps can deliver average sales performance, only one-the Challenger- delivers consistently high performance.
Instead of bludgeoning customers with endless facts and features about their company and products, Challengers approach customers with unique insights about how they can save or make money. They tailor their sales message to the customer's specific needs and objectives. Rather than acquiescing to the customer's every demand or objection, they are assertive, pushing back when necessary and taking control of the sale.
The things that make Challengers unique are replicable and teachable to the average sales rep. Once you understand how to identify the Challengers in your organization, you can model their approach and embed it throughout your sales force. The authors explain how almost any average-performing rep, once equipped with the right tools, can successfully reframe customers' expectations and deliver a distinctive purchase experience that drives higher levels of customer loyalty and, ultimately, greater growth.
Synopsis
From the author of the acclaimed Wall Street Journal bestseller The Challenger Sale
Conventional wisdom holds that to increase loyalty, companies must delight” customers by exceeding service expectations. Some focus on dazzling them at the cost of neglecting to solve basic service problemsa big strategic mistake.
Through extensive research and surveys, the authors have concluded that loyalty has much more to do with how well a company delivers on its basic promises than on how dazzling its service experience might be. The authors prove that delighting customers doesnt build loyalty, and they show how acting on this insight can help improve service, reduce costs, and decrease customer churn.
By employing practical tacticssuch as teaching reps not just to resolve customer issues but also to forward resolve” common issuescompanies will be better able to focus on delivering a nearly effortless experience. That will lead directly to the improvements in customer loyalty they had been aiming for all along.
Synopsis
As the bestseller The Challenger Sale proved, challenging the customer is now the key to sales success. But it turns out thats only half the story. Its not just that you challenge but who you challenge that really matters. To win today, you need a Challenger inside the customer organizationa mobilizer. Picture your ideal customer: collegial, eager to meet with you, and ready to champion your products across the organization. It turns out thats the last person you should be pitching.
The need to understand how customers make their decisions, especially when it comes to selling large-scale, business-to-business solutions, drove the author team behind The Challenger Sale to investigate how sales reps won high-quality deals. What that team discovered may turn the common wisdom about customer behavior upside down.
Based on an exhaustive study of hundreds of sales reps and thousands of customers across multiple industries, the authors found that every potential customer contact falls into one of seven distinct profiles. While many are worth talking to, the highest performing reps concentrated their time on a specific few.
Most sales reps prefer to approach customers who are open and eager to meet with them, people with clearly articulated needs that make them easy to connect to solutions. The authors call these customers Talkers. The high performers spent their time, instead, with customers who were less eager to meet, generally skeptical and difficult to manage, and much more apt to be agnostic about one supplier over another. They call these customers Mobilizers.
High performers understand what their average-performing colleagues dont: in a world in which complex deals require widespread consensus across a diverseand typically dysfunctionalset of customer stakeholders, only Mobilizers have the skill and the will to fight for large-scale, disruptive change and, ultimately, help win the deal. Challenger sellers, in other words, target Challenger customers.
The authors unveil research that identifies Mobilizers and provide a roadmap for how sales and marketing teams can find them, engage them with disruptive insight, and leverage them to drive consensus across the customer organization.
Once you have identified the Mobilizers among your customers, almost any rep, with the right coaching, tools, and marketing support can start a chain reaction that leads to a whole organization getting on board with even the most provocative ideas.
About the Author
MATTHEW DIXON is executive director ofand#160;the Sales and Service Practice of CEB. He is aand#160;frequent contributor to
Harvard Businessand#160;Review, and his previous book,
The Challengerand#160;Sale, was a
Wall Street Journal bestsellerand#160;and won acclaim as and#147;the most important advance in sellingand#160;for many yearsand#8221; (Neil Rackham) and and#147;the beginningand#160;of a wave that will take over a lot of selling organizationsand#160;in the next decadeand#8221; (
Business Insider).
NICK TOMAN is senior director of researchand#160;for CEBand#8217;s Sales and Service Practice and is a frequentand#160;contributor to Harvard Business Review.
RICK DELISI is senior director of advisoryand#160;services for CEBand#8217;s Sales and Service Practiceand#160;and a noted public speaker and facilitator.and#160;
CEB is the leading member-based advisory company.and#160;By combining the best practices of thousands of memberand#160;companies with its advanced research methodologiesand#160;and human capital analytics, CEB equips seniorand#160;leaders and their teams with insight and actionableand#160;solutions to transform operations.