Customer Reviews:
Don't believe the other reviews.......2007-10-16
This book consists primarily of motivational ideas that are much better presented elsewhere. If you want sales motivation--success check out Brian Tracy. The sales ideas are weak and not original. For good sales information see Spin Selling, Question Based Selling, or Brian Tracy on Selling. If you've never read a book on sales or success you might like this one, but having read piles of books on sales and related subjects I say this is one of the worst. There are no original thoughts here!
A really easy read.......2007-10-06
As a salesman once upon a time myself i know how little time 'good' salespeople get to read books, digest the information, work out how and when to use a technique and adapt their presentations when they have worked a full day and are expected to go out the next.
If i have just discribed YOU and you are pounding the highways then this is the book for you.
I was reading a comment left buy Dave Lakhani who put it so very well that i'd do worse than to repeat it. "You can pick this book up and open it at any page". This is exaclty my experience of the book which is why all salespeople looking to learn easy step by step new techniques should buy this book and have it next to them in the car to read a page or two before sitting an appointment.
Gary May
Author: SELLING: Powerful New Strategies for Sales Success
www.garymay.net
Keep Asking the Question.......2007-08-21
As always a Fan I have follow Jeffery Gitomer's advice for years and have done well out of it. Does repeat a bit but, then we all need to be reminded of why we are in sales and how to make the most out of it. Alway value first, ask questions the answers are here.Read This!
Darren Teale Perth Western Autralia www.darrenteale.com.au
Perfect for the Sales Rookie.......2007-08-03
Anyone just entering the field of sales will benefit from the practical advice in this book. Forget about the thousands of textbook style sales books and pickm this one up.
This is NOT your average how-to guide! .......2007-06-11
"Every major sales answer you need to know is in this book." -From the Book.
Take a look inside this book and you'll see that this is no ordinary how-to guide. This guy is brilliant in that he has went off the beaten path of how a book is supposed to look. The book is approximately 5x8 in size, and is covered in red fabric and comes with a handy built in bookmark. I love the use of color throughout the book. The author has chosen to color important words and phrases throughout, to make them stand out in your mind, and there are some tasteful illustrations that enhance the messages conveyed.
I know so many sales people who don't like to read. If that's you, well, then you'll LOVE this book because not only is it an easy book to read and understand, but the style is totally fun. You may even forget you're reading and all the while you'll come away with a new perspective on selling!
I was hooked and knew I had to have this book from the beginning. I love the unconventional style of the book. Now, besides the great job he did on the look of the book, there is some extremely good information contained within these red walls. 99.5 real world answers are contained within 6.5 chapters. Loads of great advice on things like setting goals and How to do your best every day, prospecting, and even how to write a thank you note.
This book has more than earned it's spot on my bookshelf!
Book Description
n this revealing business advice book, the magic of the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market proves a dynamic example of what a group of people can create when they are aligned and living a powerful vision. Here for the first time, owner John Yokoyama explains in his own words just how he transformed his business into a workplace that is renowned worldwide. When Fish Fly offers Yokoyama's cohesive strategy for achieving world famous results for owners, managers, and front-line workers alike. Once you understand the generative principles behind the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market you, too, can develop a culture that leads to excellent employee morale and legendary customer service.
Customer Reviews:
Managers required reading.......2007-10-22
We make our profit off of the products we market...what we sell is our service. A culture of customer service first, and seperating our company from the pack needs to be driven from the top down...but it is the line managers that have to most influence on our customer facing associates. When fish fly...gives our managers a look at reality with real examples of what they can do to influence their teams.
What an amazing Company.......2007-08-23
Our company has adopted the Fish policy and we love it. Although we cannot throw fish, we do throw alot of fun activities, etc. to help the attitude's of our employee's.
Wish I could move to Seattle and work at the Pike Market!
Thanks for sharing ALL your Fish products with us here in Louisville KY!
Outstanding.......2007-05-06
Purchased after a recent seminar showcasing the Pike Place Fish Market, I found this book an outstanding tool to take back to my co-workers. When Fish Fly focuses on the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market and how the owner, John Yokoyama, turned his once failing business into a fun, thriving one. Motivational, inspirational and easy to read. It has proven itself time and again with work and the difficult task of motivating others.
Simply fantastic.......2006-12-29
The book tells a really inspiring story about how it is possible to turn a team, a company around to delivering excellence and beyond.
I've read quite a few management and team building related books, and still mention this one before any other books on the same topic.
- It is a realy honest book
- It is about real people with their real story
- The author shows how he had to change first
- It is a very simple, quick read that will stick.
Thanks
Bart
A Good Read !.......2005-03-23
Author John Yokoyama, owner of Seattle's World Famous Pike Place Fish Market, explains how he changed his attitude toward his employees, embraced a new way of treating people, led his employees in a fundamental directional shift and built a widespread reputation. This isn't a business "cookbook" that tells you step by step what to do. As Yokoyama insists, you can't just copy someone else's success. You must be an individual. However, the story of his turnaround and triumph at World Famous Pike Place Fish Market is a good read that illuminates the need for leaders to treat their employees, as he says, as people, not as human resources. Although the Market is getting to be as overexposed as a fish left out in the sun, we welcome this first person exposition from the owner. After numerous published accounts about the Market, the saga of how Yokoyama empowered employees, promoted his business and changed his style comes through best in his own words.
Average customer rating:
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Total Customer Satisfaction: Putting the World's Best Programs to Work (Financial Times)
Jacques Horovitz , and
Michele Jurgens Panak
Manufacturer: Irwin Professional Publishing
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ASIN: 0786301082 |
Book Description
Say goodbye to the production century. Savvy and all-powerful consumers are at the helm. Based on hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews with senior marketing and corporate communications managers from top companies such as Federal Express, Hewlett-Packard, Ericsson, Philips, and Xerox, Gronstedt provides the keys to thriving in the upcoming "customer century." Companies must learn to integrate communications three dimensionally: externally with key customers, vertically between senior management and front-line workers, and horizontally across departments. Packed with hands-on advice, this book is a roadmap to success in the Customer Century.
Explains a hot, new management strategy
Includes practical tips and strategies
Customer Reviews:
The three dimensions of communication.......2006-01-27
In the past companies could succeed based on how well they were able to produce and sell goods. Now, we are moving from the Production Century to the Customer Century, in which success depends on how well a company is able to satisfy its customers. To satisfy customers, companies must integrate marketing and communications throughout the organization.
According to the author, marketing and communications should be integrated along three dimensions.
1. Integrated external communication: this is the process of involving everyone in the company in communication with customers and shareholders.
· Identify the most profitable customers and track their buying behavior.
· Use data to concentrate on improving market share among your best customers.
· Address customer complaints immediately.
2. Integrated vertical communication: this is the process of creating forthright, two-way communication between senior management, middle management and other employees.
· Create a company vision based on the company's core competencies.
· Use the vision to coordinate effort and communication from the top-down and the bottom-up.
· Use the vision to direct employee training towards business goals.
3. Integrated horizontal communication: this is the process of opening up communication among work units, departments and countries.
· Use customer needs as the core beginning to developing effective teamwork practices.
· Facilitate "virtual communities of practice" across the organization to benefit from networking among employees.
· Rotate employees systematically through job assignments to facilitate understanding between work units.
Lots of good ideas from world-class companies.......2000-12-26
I work as a consultant for a PR agency, so I'm supposed to know what is "best practice" in the realm of communications. This book compiles real-world examples from a dozen European and U.S.-based companies that seem to be getting it right: FedEx, Hewlett-Packard, GM Saturn, ABB, and others.
My principal interest in the book was in finding a source of good ideas that I can adapt for use by clients, and I was not disappointed. Anyone in a communications role, whether in-house or outsourced, can benefit by taking some of these ideas and adapting them to the particular needs of their own organization.
The book is especially helpful in getting around a dilemma frequently faced by consultants (internal or external) who are called upon to produce so-called creative ideas, i.e., if you propose something that's really provocative and different---outside the box, as they say---the first thing your client often wants to know is, "Where has this worked before?" Of course, if what you've proposed is truly creative and original, it may not have been tried before---a perfect reason for the client to shoot it down.
By drawing liberally from the ideas set forth in this book, you can come up with good creative PR and internal communications programs that have actually been put into practice by well-known companies. For example, when Saturn had to recall some of its cars to fix a defect, it basically turned the event into a party: car owners were invited to a Thai barbecue while mechanics spent 30 minutes fixing their Saturns. They even got a free car wash to boot. This example is a perfect illustration of a basic truth of PR, i.e., that crisis communications is not simply about damage control. Handled properly, a crisis can be an opportunity to get your customer to see your brand in a whole new light.
Another nice feature of the book is that much of it focuses on internal communication. Gronstedt uses a three-part model (he's a former academic, so he likes models, but don't worry: there's only one, and his writing is lively and clear) to describe communications, and one part consists of External relations, including media relations. But the other two parts are Vertical and Horizontal communications, both of which take place within the organization ("vertical" referring to communications that go up and down the chain of command and "horizontal" meaning communications that cut across different functions or business groups). This emphasis on internal communications gives an enlightened perspective that gets away from the one-way, press agentry model of PR that relies predominantly on placing stories about your company in the newspaper.
So read the book, mark the ideas and best practices of these world-class companies, and then adapt them for your own use. It's a great resource for anyone responsible for organizational communications.
Fascinating insights and useful framework.......2000-03-23
This is the most comprehensive book I've come across on how to strategically managing communications at every point of contact with customer and stakeholders. Gronstedt has written a practical book that provides fascinating insights into the inner workings of companies like Saturn, HP and FedEx. The examples are woven together into a "3D" model of integrated communications, which is a very useful framework for analyzing organizational communications. I'm really looking forward to sharing this book with my the communication classes at the University of Iowa.
A whole new way of looking at business.......2000-03-22
This book sets the stage for the new economy from a customer perspective, in a more clear and complelling way than anything else Ive read. It provides a whole new way of looking at business. Its a real treasure trove of inspiring ideas and captivating stories from the front lines of integrated communications and supports many concepts I have found useful in my own international consulting. Ill definitely be referring back to it time and time again.
A business classic.......2000-03-22
The Customer Century provides managers an important lesson- without a process for integrating communications, companies simply cannot flourish in the new millenium! I'm thoroughly impressed with the readability and endless practical examples in the book. They are as applicable to business here in France as elsewhere. Gronstedt provides a roadmap that is easy to read and aesy to follow. I'm sure this will be a business classic.
Book Description
Written by a veteran SugarCRM expert and experienced documentation author (not to mention official SugarCRM Rock Star!), this book is the definitive guide to implementing SugarCRM. SugarCRM is the leading open source web based customer relationship management system. It is available in both free open source and commercial versions, making it an ideal way for small-medium business to try out a CRM system without committing large sums of money. Although SugarCRM is carefully designed for ease of use, attaining measurable business gains requires careful planning and research. This book distils hard won SugarCRM experienced into an easy to follow guide to implementing the full power of SugarCRM. Using a unique checklist approach the book works from the SugarCRM basics right up to advanced features in a clear, friendly way. It is carefully designed to distil hard-won SugarCRM wisdom from a recognized expert into a clear, readable, practical guide. By helping you clarify your business goals the book enables you to build a CRM system to support your business needs, and shows SugarCRM in a realistic business setting through an Extended case study. SugarCRM is an extensive PHP/MySQL based application but with its rich administration interfaces no programming is required to get the most of it. This book is ideal for small-medium business owners/managers with reasonable IT skills, who want to implement SugarCRM for themselves as either a first CRM or as a replacement for existing solutions. It will also be a valuable resource for IT staff tasked with implementing, maintaining, or upgrading a SugarCRM installation
Customer Reviews:
You will find much more substance in the Sugar documentation.......2006-12-16
OK, I generally do not write reviews when I like a product. I let others do that (since there are plenty of people who do write positive reviews). But I take it upon myself to let others know when the product sucks. This is one of those occasions.
I am very disappointed with this book for the following reasons:
1. With all the great reviews, I had thought that this would solve world hunger and then some. It went through this book in exactly 40 minutes, scanning over each chapter looking for something that I already did not know. I could not find anything. NOTHING. Nothing at all.
2. It has precious little information about installing, customizing and troubleshooting the application for your specific business needs, which will occur if you are doing anything useful with the application.
3. The documentation pdfs that the sugar folks have put together are much more involved and detailed, not to mention concise and free.
4. The price of this book suggests that it would be a detailed work. The author actually did no research/make any contribution to what already exists in public domain. I felt cheated. Looks like someones idea of making a quick buck. Disgusting.
Rare book.......2006-10-16
I rate this book with 5 stars because:
1. It presents clear, very clear explanation what a CRM for a small- mid-size business is.
2. The author has background as small- mid-size business manager/owner so he speaks not from technology geek point of view but from business owner/manager point of view. All goals are first of all business goals, not some technological gains.
3. Very clear explanation of open-source SugarCRM.
4. Interconnection of all items (CRM, SMB needs, SugarCRM abilities) together under excellent examples of imaginary small business implementing SugarCRM.
Overall very rare book in these days which speaks about business first of all and speaks with authority of "been there done that". As SugarCRM user myself I find this book extremely useful.
A Great Read.......2006-04-03
This author clearly understands small and medium business, and Sugar CRM - I would recommend this book to anybody. Worth every penny!!!!!!!
Implementing SugarCRM.......2006-03-31
We're now in the process of implementing SugarCRM in our business and I've found this book to be an invaluable tool in helping us during this process.
The writing is clean and clear and the author has added some flavor to what can be a dry subject.
I would highly recommend it to anyone using or considering using SugarCRM in their business.
Not what I was expecting.......2006-03-29
If you are looking for a book that describes what a CRM is, why you would want one, how you can use one and how SugarCRM may be right for you, then this is a great reference.
But, if you know what a CRM is and why you need/want one and are hoping to learn how to add features/functions to SugarCRM to meet your specific business needs, then this is not your book, especially because of its price.
Book Description
Maximize customer satisfaction and maximize your bottom line
Over the last decade, too many organizations have assumed that their products or services were so superior that customers would automatically keep coming back for more. But in order to compete effectively in today's marketplace, organizations must change their strategy to become more customer focused, not product focused. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the best way to integrate this customer-facing approach throughout an organization. Aimed at understanding and anticipating the needs of an organization's current and potential customers, this innovative book shows how CRM links people, process, and technology to optimize an enterprise's revenue and profits by first providing maximum customer satisfaction.
* Covers developing a market-oriented strategy, innovation in products and services, sales and channels transformation, customer relationship marketing, and customer care
Stanley A. Brown (Toronto, Canada) is Partner in Charge of the Centre of Excellence in Customer Care at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Toronto.
Customer Reviews:
Energy is a worthwhile thing. Save it!.......2001-05-19
Energy is a worthwhile thing. Save it and skip this book. It reads like a loosely integrated collection of contributions. A more cohesive and comprensive set of basic ideas can be downloaded from the Customers-dot-com companion website at the same address for zilch.
Some interesting subjects, but too shallow arguments.......2001-03-28
To be honest, I have not understood, however not completely, what the authors want to say or explain. Interesting subjects are surely showed, but just lightly touched. Of course, you must agree that a profitable customer is better than a non-profitable one, and that maintaining her/his loyalty makes company to get the related revenue for a longer period. I think also that you may well acknowledge that new technologies do not suit to old organizations. But I am not sure that more than three hundred pages were necessary to say it. I have found some chapters much more interesting than others (for example The Tools For CRM), but if the question for such kind of books is "Which problems is this book helpful to solve to?", unless you consider a problem preparing a slide presentation, I have not been able to find any.
For those with an implementation challenge!.......2000-12-21
This is the most practical book I have read on the subject of customer relationship management (CRM). Those looking for an introduction to the subject might be better served by reading a slightly higher-level and more theoretical book such as Driving Customer Equity by Rust et. al.. However, if you understand the basics of customer care and are interested in purchasing or implementing a CRM system at your firm, this book will prove itself a highly useful resource. It will increase your understanding of strategic CRM, help you build a case and align key organizational players, and navigate tricky and potentially devastating implementation issues.
As a collection of separately authored pieces, the book works better for me as a resource than an end-to-end read. It could benefit by having a subject index.
Good CRM Framework.......2000-07-22
I disagree with the previous reader - this book is not too "fluffy". I think that the editor and contributor (Stanley Browne) has done a very good job of pacing the reader through the fundamentals of CRM to the more complex areas of balanced scorecard implementation, data warehousing, and analysis. I have read dozens of customer service-oriented books over the past year, and I believe that this is one of the better efforts to define where business is currently moving in that respect. The case study "vignettes" in general are OK (although somewhat well-worn), but the detailed studies are actually very comprehensive and interesting.
In summary, this book contains some critical points for anyone considering or in the process of implementing a so-called CRM system. It will help you avoid common pitfalls and is well-worth the investment.
New-era Marketing.......2000-07-18
It's a great book to help me realize the fundamental strategies to treat customers.
Customer Reviews:
Not all women carry purses.......2007-09-10
This book, written by a woman, presents eight case studies in eight chapters, each detailing how a specific corporation has changed its business practices in the past decade to adjust to the growth in purchasing power of female consumers. Half of these companies had traditionally sold to men only; these being DeBeers Diamonds, Home Depot, Nike and Kodak. Two had traditionally sold to women; Avon and Proctor & Gamble. The last two, MGA (maker of Bratz dolls) and McDonalds sold to youngsters, both boys and girls. Most of the chapters showed how its subject's past practices led to stagnant sales and declining market share, which was reversed when new people came on board and revamped both products and product advertising to make them more appealing to a new breed of female customers; wealthy, independent, and often single. One chapter, the one on MGA, showed how this company created an entirely new product line, Bratz dolls, that overtook Barbie dolls within two years of product launch.
Each chapter consists of the story, followed by a one page summary of key lessons learned by the company that was highlighted. As such, this book serves as both history text, and educational text; a great combination. The length of the book was great, readible within a weekend, and the reading difficulty was appropriate for college freshman in business. The only drawback of the book was what was left out. Specifically, the book ignored the financial and automotive industries. Regarding the former, the last twenty years has seen a huge growth in the number of women investing for themselves independently of spouses or families. Regarding the latter, the Japanese auto companies made their initial inroads into the American car market by selling cars geared for women customers; think of the vanity mirror on car sunshades. But overall, this is still a good book.
Thought-Provoking Case Histories.......2006-03-05
Somewhere in the first five minutes of any good business school's initial marketing class, the professor will sternly admonish students to listen to their customers and provide what's relevant. Ms. Warner in this book suggests that many such students must have fallen asleep during that lecture . . . or didn't understand the point.
In The Power of the Purse, Ms. Warner shows how some of the largest companies in the world fell asleep providing offerings and marketing to support those offerings that perhaps fit the U.S. market in 1955 . . . but certainly don't fit the market today.
To me, the most powerful case history was for Bratz, the new doll series that overtook Barbie in three years after 50 years of doll dominance. Few parents in my experience failed to note that Barbie wasn't right for their daughters. But it was hard to find alternatives that were any better. Bratz was based on the idea that pre-teen girls grow out of wanting to play with a doll that's Mommy and want to play with dolls that are like the girls and their friends. To do that, the dolls needed to look like real girls and not Donald Trump's idea of a dream date or trophy wife. They also needed to dress like contemporary girls. Bratz provides those obvious benefits and took the world by storm. The company's leader credits much of the inspiration from watching his daughter play with her dolls.
If you survey women over 70, their attitudes are pretty much the traditional ones. If you survey girls, you find that they believe that can do anything and want to be in charge of their lives. The age groups between those extremes express blended combinations of those views with the mixed based on the age.
In other words, women in the U.S. have been changing and marketers have been missing the boat. These case histories eloquently combine statistics and stories to prove that point.
The cases include McDonald's discovering that women want to eat something remotely healthful when they bring the kids in for a treat, Kodak finding out that women want simple ways to develop family photo memories, Torrid providing plus size fashion like what the fashionably anorexic normally wear, Avon discovering that the daughters of Avon Ladies want to make a buck too . . . but in a different way, Procter & Gamble making it easier to be a bread winner who enjoys the satisfaction of a clean floor, Nike learning that women's feet are different from men's, Home Depot uncovering male-female partnering in home improvement projects and women discovering the joy of buying diamond rings for the right hand.
Reading these stories made me think that most companies have a long way to go.
The main drawbacks of the book are three. First, Ms. Warner loves to give you all the details. Her case histories are longer than they need to be, as a result. The first one on McDonald's is a real snore. Keep reading. It gets better. Second, Ms. Warner adds almost no management insight to her case histories. These cases are like stories written for a glossy magazine rather than to train marketers. Third, Ms. Warner spreads her points about how women have changed throughout the book. She takes a long time to get her point across. A better opening that summarized the key elements would have made the rest of the book a lot more interesting by providing the context before the examples.
Normally, I wouldn't rate such a bare bones book as highly as this one. But I don't know of any better book on how marketers are overcoming decades of bad habits in serving women. So any book that's the best in its field deserves five stars.
Nice insights, Ms. Warner!
Beyond Pink: Marketing to Women.......2006-01-23
This book combines the story of women's new economic power with case studies that detail how major companies have revamped their marketing to target women customers. Author Fara Warner, a journalist, knows her beat. In fact, she sometimes gets carried away with the facts, and her style can be dry and predictable. Still, we find this book invaluable for marketers and people interested in women's emerging economic clout, a major social and demographic trend. Warner provides specific advice that will help you avoid costly, time-consuming marketing mistakes as you pursue these crucial customers.
An Outstanding Entry in a Crowded Field.......2005-10-23
Many books purport to offer marketing advice. However, most of them, especially those that are case study-oriented, are somewhat superficial and simply reiterate some basic truths that most practitioners already know. In contrast, Warner's book digs in deep to provide the nitty gritty "so what" details that readers need in order to actually apply the lessons to their own work. You are not left hanging as to what the company under discussion actually did, or what results were achieved. As a marketer with a leading technology company, I was particularly interested in the chapter on Kodak's success with the EasyShare camera and software. There are some great lessons on how to get beyond the "early adopter" crowd to succeed with the mainstream consumer. I have passed this book on to others in my organization, who report that they too have found it both insightful and useful.
A Great Debut .......2005-10-14
Warner with her precise indepth business examples covering varying types of businesses shows us how powerful "listening" to women can be. Increased revenues in marketshare from both gender segments. Warner doesn't pidgeon hole women, which is refreshing. She is a keen observer and makes the point clear just how simple and easy it can be for businesses to ask women what they want how powerful it is when businesses really listen and then take the necessary steps to make it a reality. Warner's examples shows when businesses do this it's a win win for everyone. It also puts honesty back into marketing.
Book Description
A master of the complex sale and a bestselling author, Rick Page is also one of the most experienced sales consultants and trainers in the world. Make Winning A Habit defines the gap between what companies know to do and how they consistently perform.
Page clearly identifies five “Ts” of transformation: Talent, Technique, Teamwork, Technology and Trust. These five elements, when fully developed and integrated into the sales and marketing organization, begin to create the habit of winning over customers in every industry. Stories of successes-and failures-from members of prominent companies help you apply the five “Ts” to your company's culture, and point the way to more effective plans for motivating employees, building and coaching winning teams, and improving hiring processes.
Then, with the use of Page's assessment scorecard, you can compare your company with some of the strategies and practices of the best sales forces in the world. Designed to gauge your organization's effectiveness and further develop breakthrough sales growth, this scorecard highlights your strengths and weaknesses, helping you bridge the gap between where you are and where you need to be.
You'll also learn about:
- The “Deadly Dozen” (pains sales managers feel today) and how they can kill business
- A ten-point process for identifying and hiring nothing less than “A” players
- The 8 “ates” of managing strategic accounts and how they will maximize revenue and elevate relationships
- How to identify and correct the six most common areas of poor individual sales performance
With Make Winning A Habit, you'll discover the obstacles between you and the consistent sales performance you can achieve-and find the tools to not only make success a habit, but one that will keep growing with your business.
Customer Reviews:
An excellent follow up to his first.......2007-04-14
'Hope is not a strategy' was one of the first sales books I ever read and definitely one of the best. 'Make Winning a Habit' makes for an excellent second installment from this highly insightful professional. While his first book focused more on managing the opportunity, this book focuses more on the bigger picture, sales strategies in general and managing the sales team.
Still very experienced writing with plenty of examples to get his point across.
Anyone who benefited or enjoyed the first book will enjoy the second as well. Highly recommended.
Must read for sales managers.......2006-06-21
I really liked Page's first book, Hope is Not a Strategy and he has followed it up with a very topical subject. Too many bad habits were developed in the world of selling during the last 10 years and he has concisely given us a way to grade our practices against some of the best companies around.
Book Description
With global markets more crowded than ever, it is a major challenge for organizations to attract and retain customers due to the competition they are faced with. This text is designed to teach exemplary customer service thinking in public or private, domestic or international organizations and is written in a practical, common sense manner reflecting current customer service concepts and hints.
Book Description
Here they are . . . 50 stories of the worst customer service in America. We've all been at the receiving end of poor or just downright bad customer service, but best selling author and professional speaker Hal Becker, the #1 salesperson for Xerox in his earlier career, tells it like it is.
Let's face it. Getting good customer service these days is about as easy as winning the lottery. In this enlightening collection of true stories, Hal Becker takes a look at how bad customer service has gotten. But, while he's at it he also makes suggestions as to what can be done to improve it. Also, on the flip side of the coin—the book features interviews with the 10 best companies that are the tops at meeting the needs of their customers and providing exemplary customer service and free help (rather than a lot of “lip service”).
"Hal Becker has done it again. . . . a light-hearted approach to a serious issue facing all businesses today . . . how to serve and keep customers."—Ray Gross, Senior Vice President, ADT Security Services "Hal Becker's new book is a classic about customer service. It has given me a lot to think about and a new motivation to always satisfy the customer."—Pat Williams, General Manager, Orlando Magic
"This is a great book for anyone whose livelihood depends on serving consumers or customers. Those who manage service environments would do well to require their employees to read these instructive stories. It's a fun way to do important training."—Joel Hyatt, Founder, Hyatt Legal Services
"Hal Becker's creative 'what should be done' approach makes the anecdotal stories a unique training book on customer service, one that is entertaining and educational."—Peter T. Gaughn, President & CEO, PIP Printing
Customer Reviews:
Quick read, enjoyable, instructive.......2002-01-07
Every one of us has encountered horrible customer service. We've each had those experiences where we'd like to just grab some executive by the shirt collar and scream, "Do you have any idea what you're doing? Don't you want me to be your customer??"
Hal Becker has been down that same road of lousy service, but he's said something about it. "Lip Service" is a monument to lousy customer service, written by a man who has enjoyed a career as an award-winning salesman, sales trainer, business owner, and professional speaker. What a bully platform! And Becker uses it.
I'd like to say Becker pulls no punches in this book, but that's not quite true. Many of his examples make it obvious, without identifying the company, who he's talking about. Other references are more obscure. As an angry customer myself, on too many occasions, I'd like to be much more aggressive in naming names, dates, and specifics. I can just imagine this author sitting in a law library in his attorney's office while his legal advisors read the original manuscript. "No, you can't say that. You're asking for a heavy lawsuit" "That's bordering on libel; I can't let you say that." And Becker's protesting against his attorney's protective advice. "But, I wanna . . . ." The "Don't" prevailed, but quite a bit of really juicy stuff still crept in.
Becker's consultant hat is on in this book. He tells the story (while the reader cheers), then provides a response of what should have been done. Again the reader will shout "Right on!" So, it's a fun read from this perspective, like enjoying one of those hard-hitting investigative television news shows.
But this book has even more value as a customer service textbook. Everyone in a role of serving customers, especially in those high-contact retail environments, should read this book. Customer service is more than lip service, and Lip Service makes that clear.
You'll get a kick out of the writing style in this book. In the fifty humorous stories, Becker sounds like a combination of an impatient New Yorker, Seinfeld, and Mr. Everyman. The book closes with strong, instructive interviews with ten (profitable, naturally) companies that do customer service the right way.
Hal Becker is speaking for us. Have fun with this book, then give it to your favorite customer service specialist who needs some serious help.
Good reading, low on information.......2001-10-20
The book was well written and made for entertaining reading. However, the materials were more like a pep talk on good customer service. I needed, and expected, more straight-forward tips of how to implement an improved service program.
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