Book Description
First published in 1995, The Nordstrom Way is a classic guide to great customer service. This new book replaces The Nordstrom Way with an even more practical guide to becoming the “Nordstrom” of your industry. Designed for customer service managers and trainers, as well as business owners, it’s an invaluable resource for designing your own programs and initiatives. The authors not only explain the principles of the world’s best customer service company, they also show you how to implement them in your own organization. The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence will help your business make customers its number one concern, and help make your business number one in your industry.
Download Description
A new "how-to" version of a customer service classic
First published in 1995, The Nordstrom Way has consistently been one of the bestselling backlist books on customer service, with over 100,000 copies sold. This new book replaces The Nordstrom Way with an even more practical guide to becoming the "Nordstrom" of your industry. It is designed for customer service managers and trainers, who will find it an invaluable resource for designing their own training programs. Through training exercises, hiring questionnaires, and customer service development tools, the authors not only explain the principles of the world¿s best customer service company¿they help you implement them in your organization. The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence will help any organization focus on customer needs, follow-up, and ensure customer satisfaction in every transaction.
Robert Spector (Seattle, WA) is a professional speaker and writer whose work has appeared in Women¿s Wear Daily, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and USA Today. Patrick McCarthy (Seattle, WA) retired from Nordstrom after more than 30 years of service. He was one of the top-performing salespeople in the company.
Customer Reviews:
Insist on good service! You're paying for it! .......2007-10-16
Every business or organization that claims to have (or value) good customer service should implement a customer service class based on the 'Nordstrom Way'.
I became a customer after visiting their Seattle store and became converted. Truly wonderful, personal, personable customer service.
Other stores and businesses could benefit as well: cell phone service providers, 'home' hardware stores, 'copy' shops, etc.
In the past few years, it seems that the crush of a crowded market place has produced a culture of mental malaise in these organizations.
Insist on good service! You're paying for it!
Interesting, fun, informative -- but not that practical.......2007-09-27
The Nordstrom Way is sort of like two books in one. The first, a business biography, would merit 4 stars; five if expounded upon. The second, however -- and the real intent of this book -- a customer service "how to," is a bit lacking. The reason: Nordstrom's customer service is so over the top that most businesses in most industries would go bankrupt putting its principles into practice. Nordstrom department stores have thrived by servicing a niche market of customers who are willing to pay a premium for truly outstanding service. But that niche is small, and the principles are just inapplicable to most retailers, let alone other business models.
Great stories of the best Cust. Service around.......2006-01-26
I was very excited to read this book after enjoying Spector's book on Amazon.com. The author did not disapoint and I enjoyed this book much more than his last!
The best part of the book are the examples used. In addition to Nordstrom, he has also incorporated examples from another large company, and a few small and midsize companies as well. No matter what industry you are in, or the size of your firm...you will get value out of this book.
It's a fast read and would be great to share with co-workers and/or employee's.
Book Description
Are you striving for excellence yet find your efforts increasingly taken for granted and undervalued? You’re not alone. Many companies discover their improved performance doesn’t translate into higher perceived value. In fact, it simply shifts the customer’s expectations upward, causing the customer to take the new, improved performance for granted. High-performance companies unwittingly create unrealistic customer expectations that become impossible to meet. In this important book, the authors use a realistic story that illustrates the paradox of excellence¾the better you perform, the more invisible you become to everything but bad news¾shows the symptoms and causes, and provides clear guidance for overcoming this perplexing dilemma. The Paradox of Excellence introduces an entertaining story with characters that are easy to relate to, ideas that can be readily implemented, and a practical framework for achieving long-term success.
Customer Reviews:
A New Twist In Managing Expectations.......2006-12-17
David Mosby and Michael Weissman have authored a nifty fable on how excellence, if not managed, can kill you. "The Paradox of Excellence" can be applied not only to companies but to public sector and non-profit sector organizations...and by excellent performers, regardless of their walk of life, to avoid being victimized by professional excellence.
"The Paradox of Excellence" is revealed in a story about Premiere Specialty, a mid-sized logistics company serving Silicon Valley. Premiere has been notified that is about to lose MicroZip Electronics, one of its largest customers, due to a rare shipping error after years of excellent service.
The fable centers on several key employees investigating the error, what they learn, and how they put their "learnings" to work to insure against lost orders in the future, despite excellent service.
The book ends with a concise overview of the "Paradox of Excellence" - the symptoms, the root cause, root behaviors and assumptions, and the remedy - complete with a self-assessment.
"Paradox of Excellence" is a quick and easy read. The book is profound due to the concept's simplicity, a simplicity that due to its subtlety (excellence) has been overlooked until now, and that, too, is a paradox.
Customers pay for experiences - not products!.......2006-04-03
Mosby and Weissman cut to the heart of the fact that customers don't buy products, they buy experiences. All too often companies get caught up in the rat race of satisfying customer needs and attempting to outdo the competition and overlook what customers really want - value. Of course, being in the eye of the beholder, value is like shifting sands in the desert.
Customer expectations must be identified, understood, and managed more carefully than ever before. Internally, outstanding performance often creates a tendency to rest on one's laurels; externally, customers will take features, once lavished with praise, for granted. The key is to learn what you look like through the customer's eyes.
Divided into two main sections, The Paradox of Excellence offers an excellent expose into the perils that ride on the coat-tails of success:
Be sure to check out the "The Continuous Visibility Wheel" toward the end of the book, that covers five distinct phases:
- Discover the expectations
- Define and select your distinguishing value
- Select the metrics to be made visible and the best manner in which to present that information
- Uncover the best source of data to use, and
- Deliver the information needed to keep your value in the minds of your customers and your employees.
------------------
Michael Davis, Editor - Byvation
"Business Success through Innovation"
Provokingly scary.......2006-03-10
Provides excellent analogy on how our own business strives for excellence while we forget about who and why we aspire to that level. Excellent read!
It CAN happen to you - Here's how to prevent it.......2005-11-19
This easy to read, but insightful book has put an eloquent name to a problem that plagues many businesses. The Paradox of Excellence was something that my company struggled through several years ago...if only we'd had this book, we'd have saved hours of struggle AND several clients.
Mosby and Weissman have crafted an excellent book. Similar to the books of Patrick Lencioni, the bulk of the book is delivered in an imminently readable parable. This makes it a quick and fun read. But, as most great teachers teachers know, the parable exists to demonstrate the core principles...in this case how to keep your business from becoming invisible except when you have a problem. I highly recommend this book.
Do Not Ever Be Invisible Again ! ! .......2005-10-28
Great insight into business & personal activities - you need to "toot your own horn", this tells you Where, When, How, & Why to take action so you (or your comapny) is not invisible. Remember Nolan Ryan well states it: "It ain't bragging, if you can do it".
My Husband is making it a gift to each of his APICS Certification Class students.
Book Description
Research confirms that it is six times more costly to attract a new customer than it is to retain an existing one.
Creating a culture of service excellence requires planning, preparation, and persistence. Customer Service in Health Care is designed to provide readers with the fundamental information and skills to start or strengthen a customer service initiative within a health care organization. This book concentrates on action as opposed to theory. It offers a practical, step-by-step process for creating a culture shift toward customer service excellence at all levels of an organization, and presents the essentials to improving performance that will bring the individuals closer to the mission, values, and standards.
Chapters focus on:
- Tools for establishing and measuring customer service team goals
- Creating customer service standards unique to your organization
- Tips on training sessions
- Strategies for maintaining top-of-mind awareness of customer service among employees
- Customer service techniques for physicians and nurses
- An overview of customer service as an essential component of business development and marketing
Customer Reviews:
Customer Service in Health Care.......2007-08-13
So far so good, I have not yet finished this book, but so far it is a good read - very readable, and easy to read with clear messages. It is US centric, and focussed on the US healthcare system which is not always relevant to the UK system but nevertheless has some messages that are transferable.
Book Description
Every organization wants to go from good to great. Yet, despite knowing where they want to go, many companies can't find their way there. They struggle to find the one thing that matters in today's competitive marketplace. Price? . . . Quality? . . . Innovative product features? While all of these certainly influence a customer's buying decision, none of them is the most influential factor. What is? It's the salesperson.
Achieve Sales Excellence examines the new paradigm of business-to-business sales. Based on the results of an innovative, fourteen-year study, this book offers unmatched insight on sales performance issues and the practices sales professionals and organizations must embrace to be a world-class sales force.
Customer Reviews:
A guide to what business-to-business customers want from salespeople .......2007-09-25
Amazon.com lists nearly half a million books about sales. You get the impression that everyone who ever made a cold call or a sales presentation has written a book about his or her experience. Sales books are often anecdotal, with little or no relevance to the difficult challenges that salespeople actually face. Some present a grab bag of supposedly "can't-lose" sales techniques that sound great on paper but always seem to fall flat during sales calls. Others present compilations of moldy maxims, such as "work smarter, not harder," and "never take `no' for an answer," that make experienced salespeople want to jump off the nearest cliff. This thoughtful and intelligent book by Howard Stevens and Theodore Kinni is a welcome exception. Instead of irrelevant anecdotes or inane aphorisms, it features the results of in-depth surveys of 80,000 business-to-business customers concerning their attitudes about salespeople. It offers an insightful analysis of this singularly informative data, along with recommendations on what salespeople can do to improve their status with customers - and thus increase their own sales. When it comes to the business-to-business salesperson, we cannot recommend this book more highly. Read it to learn precisely what business-to-business customers expect from you, and how you can use this invaluable insider knowledge to close more sales. You'll become the consummate sales professional in both your customers' eyes and your own.
Mandatory Reading for Sales Professionals.......2007-04-26
Although I read everything published regarding sales, it is rare that I can heap the kind of praise I am about to heap on Howard Stevens and the HR Chally Group's Achieve Sales Excellence: The 7 Customer Rules for Becoming the New Sales Professional.
Not since Neil Rackham wrote SPIN Selling (in 1987) and Major Account Sales Strategy (in 1988), has anyone used sophisticated research methodology to explain what makes some salespeople much more successful than others (in this case, Chally used 210,000 salespeople and 80,000 customers). Most important, Stevens and the Chally Group actually correlated what a customer said on a survey with their actual buying decisions, therefore, making the information much, much more valid and useful in determining what customer want and expect from salespeople.
The seven rules are:
1. You Must Be Personally Accountable for Our Desired Results
2. You Must Understand Our Business
3. You Must Be on Our Side
4. You Must Bring Us Applications
5. You Must be Easily Accessible
6. You Must Solve Our Problems
7. You Must Be Innovative in Responding to Our Needs
This is a book I wish I had written. It is--bar none--the most important work published in the field of sales in the last 20 years. If you choose not to buy and read this book, I promise you will quickly fall behind those of your competitors who do--it is that important! This book will reshape how you think of yourself as a salesperson, and, if Steven's advice is followed, to greatly improve how we are viewed by our customers.
Recommended for ALL Sales Professionals.......2007-03-30
This is one book I wholeheartedly recommend to sales leaders and sales professionals who truly want to understand and value the customer perspective. Insightful, emboldened by superb research, Howard Stevens continues to contribute to the art and science of sales expertise.
I have already purchased copies for my team and I consider it THE sales book of 2007!
Sandi Edwards
Regional Vice President of Sales
American Management Association
NYC,NY
The Essence of Sales Excellence.......2007-02-21
Howard has it all in an easy to read guide for any sales manager who wants to select, train and coach their sales force to world class levels. What more could you want - its research based, concise, actionable and driven from the customer's point of view. The best maxim I know about top sales pros is that if you want to understand selling get insight into buying. Achieve Sales Excellence is a must read for any sales manager or sales professional that wants to exceed their quota, delight customers and crush competitors.
It's all about the customer .......2007-02-13
Howard Stevens has clearly shifted the focus from the trite "I have been successful in selling and so can you" approach to "It's all about the customer". The power of this book comes from the in-depth research H.R.Chally has conducted on the customers of B2B companies. This book contains the best roadmap that sales leaders can use to create a customer focused, world class sales organization.
Book Description
"Customer Service" is not a lost art -- but it surely needs to be rediscovered. With all the books that have been written on the subject, it is surprising how little solid insight has been really offered. That is why Unleashing Excellence stands out from the crowd. Without fluff and puffery, customer service experts Dennis Snow and Teri Yanovitch give a no-nonsense, highly readable, easy-to-understand guide that will encourage readers to take a serious look at their own efforts and make the important changes necessary to create the ultimate customer service for their businesses. By examining some of the world's best customer service organizations, readers will be provided with the keys to implementing programs and changing behaviors that can spell success. As Aritotle said, "We are what we do repeatedly, therefore, excellence is not an act, but a habit." Unleashing Excellence will help determined readers to make excellent service a habit.
Customer Reviews:
This is a standout book!.......2006-09-14
As the title Unleashing Excellence suggests, this book is directed at senior executives. It starts with the premise that customer service is a corporate strategy (just as technical competence is) and needs to be cultivated from the top.
Companies that build customer service as a vital part of their business model also build customer loyalty and strengthen their bottom lines. Those that don't, end up limiting their potential in the marketplace. The first chapter develops a framework to understand the essential ingredients of customer service, and the second chapter outlines the rest of the book. The remaining chapters focus on making customer service part of the "corporate DNA."
These remaining chapters go through the steps of institutionalizing customer service as part of corporate strategy. Topics range from setting up a service improvement team, and also setting service philosophy and standards, communication, training, measuring program effectiveness, recognition, and accountability.
The clean layout without footnotes, endnotes or a bibliography is clearly aimed not at the academician but at the practitioner. The fluid writing style makes the book easy to read.
The numerous anecdotes from a wide variety of settings peppered throughout the text help bring the concepts to life. The ideas and thought-provoking discussions in the chapters are supplemented with shaded call-out boxes, Action Steps, and Pitfalls to Avoid. The book's concluding chapter presents nine leadership actions to help readers strengthen customer service delivery.
While reading this book is the first step, the authors' intent is for readers to implement their ideas and suggestions. To evaluate "success" by this criterion, I need to ask if I would now implement the ideas and suggestions presented. In all honesty, I would not implement all the suggestion presented. However, I will consider all the overarching ideas presented and strive to make improvements where needed, within the context of my organizational culture. In this sense, I have bought into the authors' intent of writing this book.
This customer service book stands out as it sharply focuses on the nuts and bolts of implementing customer service company wide and truly making it part of corporate strategy.
Armchair Interviews says: Customer service--what a unique concept!
Effective Guide for Executives and Managers.......2003-11-01
Customer service is similar to Motherhood and Apple Pie. Organizations that deliver outstanding customer service as an integral part of their business operation build customer loyalty and bottom line strength. Those that don't...well, we all know that bad customer service can destroy a company, or at least severely limit its potential.
This knowledge is legendary. Techniques for delivering good customer service are well-known. This is not brain surgery. Why another book on the ubiquitous topic?
First, note the title. The book title doesn't talk about Excellent Customer Service or You Will Be Fired if You Aren't Nice to Our Customers. The Unleashing Excellence title-and theme of the book-is directed toward senior executives. Customer service is a corporate strategy that needs to be led from the top. This book needs to be read by senior executives that allege that they don't have time to read it. The downside of mediocre customer service can be career-limiting to executives who don't pay attention to this critical component of their company's business.
The authors, both formerly part of the Walt Disney leadership development programs, are now in private practice. They are active consultants-to a wide range of employers-on customer service issues. In their work, they apply what they learned at Disney and other employment experiences to deliver an executive-targeted message. Toward this end, the book is easy to read, includes shaded call-out boxes, Action Steps and Pitfalls to Avoid at the end of each chapter. The book's concluding chapter presents nine leadership actions to guide readers in strengthening their customer service delivery. A comprehensive index makes the book even more reader-friendly.
Readers will benefit from a continual flow of best practice stories from many employment settings. Many of the examples of good work come from the authors' clients. These illustrations serve to enhance and illuminate the content to bring the traditional concepts to life in ways that leaders can read the book and initiate appropriate actions for individual and organizational improvement. Several sections of the book stand out in my mind, but all chapters are filled with ideas, thought-provoking discussions, and anecdotes to bring the concepts to life.
Yes (sigh), this is ANOTHER customer service book. Do we need more books on this topic? Some of us are beginning to feel overstuffed with this topic---like the bloated feeling we get after a huge Thanksgiving dinner. Thankfully, this book serves a specific purpose of providing how-to advice and insights for executives and managers to consider and implement. Use it as a tool to stimulate customer service conversations in your organization as you inspire increasingly high attention to incredible customer service as a part of your corporate DNA.
Required Reading for Customer Service Providers/Professional.......2003-09-30
What a great book! A practical and quick read that should be mandatory for everyone that works in the customer service arena. The sections are divided in such a way that you can immediately put in place the ideas presented. A perfect book for anyone working with Customers, CEO's, a gift for your boss or the Customer Service Consultant. It's a "must read and pass-on" book.
Book Description
Today's consumers are sophisticated, well informed and have high expectations of the services they want to receive. They want greater choice, speed of service and convenience, and will not be 'sold to' or manipulated. Companies that do not face up to these changes will lose market share.
Book Description
This book reports findings of a three-nation study of public relations and communication management sponsored by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Research Foundation. The Excellence Study provides communication managers and public relations practitioners with information critical to their own professional growth, and supplies organizations with tools that help them communicate more effectively and build beneficial relations with key publics. Communication excellence is a powerful idea of sweeping scope that applies to all organizations -- large or small -- that need to communicate effectively with publics on whom the organization's survival and growth depend. The essential elements of excellent communication are the same for corporations, not-for-profit organizations, government agencies, and professional/trade associations. And they are applicable on a global basis.
The study identifies three spheres of communication excellence. These spheres consider the overall function and role of communication in organizations, and define the organization of this book. They are:
* the core or inner sphere of communication excellence -- the knowledge base of the communication department,
* the shared expectations of top communicators and senior managers about the function and role of communication, and
* the organization's culture -- the larger context that either nurtures or impedes communication excellence.
This text also examines communication excellence as demonstrated in specific programs developed for specific publics.
Average customer rating:
|
New Economy Excellence Series, New Economy Emotion: Engaging Customer Passion with e-CRM
Alfredo Zingale , and
Matthias Arndt
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Customer Service
| Industries & Professions
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| E-commerce
| Industries & Professions
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Management
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Multilevel
| Marketing
| Marketing & Sales
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Web Marketing
| Business & Culture
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
Internet
| Home Computing
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
| Internet & Education
| Online Searching
| Web Browsers
| Web for Kids
All Amazon Upgrade
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Business & Investing
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Computers & Internet
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0470841354 |
Book Description
Despite the hype, e-commerce involves approaches that have long been established in conventional markets. The main difference is one of customer intimacy and reach. Through online Customer Relationship Management (CRM), e-commerce allows for the first time the possibility of genuine one-to-one marketing and communication - even in mass markets. Examining both long- and short-term strategies as part of the groundbreaking New Economy Excellence series, New Economy Emotion clearly shows how to integrate existing strengths with the Internet's tremendous power for personal interaction in a powerful ongoing loop.
Other titles in the New Economy Excellence series include:
New Economy Edge: Strategies and Techniques for Boosting Online Profitability
Jeremy Kourdi - 0471498440
New Economy Energy: Unleashing Knowledge for Competitive Advantage
Sultan Kermally - 0471499633
New Economy Expression: Redefining Marketing in the Multi-Channel Age
David Mercer - 0471500089
Book Description
Customer Service, Aiming for Excellence is a fast-paced, humourous and fresh approach to Customer Service that will benefit both first time employees and seasoned professionals as well. This easy-to-read, 'one sitting', book tells you how to handle different customers instead of just why you need to. The fun and insights are inescapable and 'it provides the tools to deal with difficult situations with confidence and a greater understanding of the underlying motives behind behavior'.
Customer Service, Aiming for Excellence introduces the concept of "Linked Pairs", the relationships between the situations/conditions that cause a problem and the generally appropriate techniques that aid in solving it.
Aiming for Excellence also teaches you to identify the 5 customer types and how best to handle them based on their personality.
The book also discusses Opportunities for Excellence, Everyday Extraordinary Service and Professionalism. If you have already read a book on customer service, have some fun and add this one to your list. If you read only one book on customer service make this one it!
Book Description
Customer Relationship Management is a holistic strategic approach to managing customer relationships to increase shareholder value, and this major
Handbook of CRM gives complete coverage of the key concepts in this vital field.
It is about achieving a total understanding of the concepts that underlie successful CRM rather than the plethora of systems that can be used to implement it.
Based on recent knowledge, it is underpinned by:
* Clear and comprehensive explanations of the key concepts in the field
* Vignettes and full cases from major businesses internationally
* Definitive references and notes to further sources of information on every aspect of CRM
* Templates and audit advice for assessing your own CRM needs and targets
The most lucid, comprehensive and important overview of the subject and an invaluable tool in enabling the connection of the major principles to the real world of business.
* A definitive, heavily researched, comprehensive overview
* Key concepts allied to action templates
* Written by one of the first major marketing thinkers in the field and based on Cranfield Business School's internationally acknowledged leadership in the field
Download Description
Customer Relationship Management is a holistic strategic approach to managing customer relationships to increase shareholder value, and this major Handbook of CRM gives complete coverage of the key concepts in this vital field. It is about achieving a total understanding of the concepts that underlie successful CRM rather than the plethora of systems that can be used to implement it. Based on recent knowledge, it is underpinned by: * Clear and comprehensive explanations of the key concepts in the field * Vignettes and full cases from major businesses internationally * Definitive references and notes to further sources of information on every aspect of CRM * Templates and audit advice for assessing your own CRM needs and targets The most lucid, comprehensive and important overview of the subject and an invaluable tool in enabling the connection of the major principles to the real world of business.
Books:
- The Other Guy Blinked: How Pepsi Won the Cola Wars
- The Product Manager's Field Guide : Practical Tools, Exercises, and Resources for Improved Product Management
- The SPIN Selling Fieldbook
- The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
- The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It
- The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth
- The Wisdom of Crowds
- Total Customer Satisfaction: A Comprehensive Approach for Health Care Providers
- Truth, Lies and Advertising : The Art of Account Planning
- Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- How Men Think
- You: The Smart Patient: An Insider's Handbook for Getting the Best Treatment
- Peter Grant: The Man Who Led Zeppelin
- SPSS For Dummies
- Squid: The Definitive Guide
- Whatever It Takes: How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Kids Don't Learn
- Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
- EXAMNotes for Business Law III
- Study Guide for African Americans in the U.S. Economy
- Riches of the Wild: Land Mammals of South-East Asia
The Nordstrom Way: The Inside Story of America's #1 Customer Service Company
Be Our Guest
The Disney Way Fieldbook: How to Implement Walt Disney's Vision of "Dream, Believe, Dare, Do" in Your Own Company
The Disney Way, Revised Edition
Perfect Phrases for Customer Service: Hundreds of Tools, Techniques, and Scripts for Handling Any Situation (Perfect Phrases)
