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Truth, Lies and Advertising : The Art of Account Planning
Jon Steel Manufacturer: Wiley ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0471189626 |
Book Description
"Account planning exists for the sole purpose of creating advertising that truly connects with consumers. While many in the industry are still dissecting consumer behavior, extrapolating demographic trends, developing complex behavioral models, and measuring Pavlovian salivary responses, Steel advocates an approach to consumer research that is based on simplicity, common sense, and creativity--an approach that gains access to consumers' hearts and minds, develops ongoing relationships with them, and, most important, embraces them as partners in the process of developing and advertising.A witty, erudite raconteur and teacher, Steel describes how successful account planners work in partnership with clients, consumer, and agency creatives. He criticizes research practices that, far from creating relationships, drive a wedge between agencies and the people they aim to persuade; he suggests new ways of approaching research to cut through the BS and get people to show their true selves; and he shows how the right research, when translated into a motivating and inspiring brief, can be the catalyst for great creative ideas. He draws upon his own experiences and those of colleagues in the United States and abroad to illustrate those points, and includes examples of some of the most successful campaigns in recent years, including Polaroid, Norwegian Cruise Line, Porsche, Isuzu, "got milk?" and others.
The message of this book is that well-thought-out account planning results in better, more effective marketing and advertising for both agencies and clients. And also makes an evening in front of the television easier to bear for the population at large."
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book, concise and insightful........2007-02-15
The best planning book I've read to date.......2007-01-12
Perfect.......2006-11-15
Excellent Introduction But Too Consumer Focussed.......2005-01-07
HighlyRecommended!.......2004-06-04
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The Executive Guide to Call Center Metrics
James C. Abbott Manufacturer: Robert Houston Smith Publishers ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 1887355081 |
Book Description
As the cost of doing business increases, call centers and help desks are frequently moving overseas. How can your center remain competitive? Is pooling the best way to slash your wait times? James Abbott concisely answers these questions as he leads you through the world of process-centered customer service. Strategic and tactical terms, how to choose metrics to measure, and the miracle of Queuing Science are covered thoroughly, using easy-to-grasp anecdotes to explain the key technical topics.Customer Reviews:
Required Reading For All Call Center Managers.......2006-01-23
Bringing Call Centers Into The 21st Century.......2005-12-01
Excellent Book.......2005-11-11
A book about metrics & statistics but not about call center.......2005-07-03
A Wakeup Call.......2004-07-15
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The Art of Selling to the Affluent: How to Attract, Service, and Retain Wealthy Customers & Clients for Life
Matt Oechsli Manufacturer: Wiley ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0471703230 |
Book Description
This insightful book shows salespeople how to meet the needs of affluent clientsfrom the initial contact, to the sales presentation, to providing the level of service and quality they expect, to securing them as long-term customers. Based on extensive research of the buying patterns and expectations of the wealthy, this step-by-step sales guide reveals the secrets of attracting and keeping wealthy clients for life, boosting sales and repeat business. The Art of Selling to the Affluent is also a crash course in the world of the wealthy, giving you the understanding you need to satisfy and retain these profitable top-dollar clients.Download Description
This insightful book shows salespeople how to meet the needs of affluent clients¿from the initial contact, to the sales presentation, to providing the level of service and quality they expect, to securing them as long-term customers. Based on extensive research of the buying patterns and expectations of the wealthy, this step-by-step sales guide reveals the secrets of attracting and keeping wealthy clients for life, boosting sales and repeat business. The Art of Selling to the Affluent is also a crash course in the world of the wealthy, giving you the understanding you need to satisfy and retain these profitable top-dollar clients.Customer Reviews:
Fine , but not so precise.......2007-01-18
Matt nailed it!.......2006-08-10
Wonderfully written...A must read book for all involved in selling........2005-11-23
Best Book on Affluent Selling to Date.......2005-08-09
Insightful!.......2005-07-29
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Adaptive Coaching: The Art and Practice of a Client-Centered Approach to Performance Improvement
Terry R. Bacon Manufacturer: Davies-Black Publishing ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0891061878 |
Book Description
This book fills the huge gap between what companies and clients expect from coaching and what it actually does for them. Zeroing in on this popular technique to develop today's leaders, improve performance, and facilitate change, the book shows how to deliver coaching that helps anyone achieve extraordinary results.Customer Reviews:
Best Coaching Book I've Read.......2005-08-03
Research-Based Approach Raises Coaching to a New Level.......2003-10-13
Bacon and Spears, experienced in coaching more than 2,000 individual clients in Fortune 500 companies, share their knowledge and experience. Their researched-based approach emphasizes the skills needed by coaches and that coaching styles must be adapted to what the client needs. The eight styles they identify are directive (teacher, parent, manager, philosopher) and non-directive (facilitator, counselor, colleague, mentor). This model alone will expand, deepen, and enrich the work done by the vast majority of coaches in the corporate world.
The book offers even more, delivering checklists, assessment tools, tips and tools, and a wealth of sample coach-client dialogues. Recognizing the special opportunities the future will hold, the authors include insights into coaching across cultures, across generations, as well as coaching women, minorities, and C-level executives.
An epilogue with even more perspectives adds value to this volume, as do the reference section and comprehensive index. This is not a book for readers who simply want to gain a few insights into improving their coaching effectiveness. You'll learn, but you'll be overwhelmed. Adaptive Coaching is like a college textbook on the topic. It's a heavy, deep, and thorough treatment with relatively small type. The $39.95 price suggests that this is more than the average airplane reading management book...and it is. If you're serious about the critical and fine art of coaching in the complicated corporate environment, you'll gain considerable knowledge, insight, and growth from this book.
Side note: I am the author of Impending Crisis: Too Many Jobs, Too Few People. As a workforce futurist, I see what's coming... including a dangerous dearth of leadership. Application of the principles in this book will help today's leaders strengthen each other and the next generation of leaders.
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Art of Client Service
Solomon Robert Manufacturer: Kaplan Business ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 079316799X Release Date: 2003-04-25 |
Book Description
Fill the Empty Suit (or take it off completely!) This is a book of Simple Strategies For Providing Outstanding Service to Advertising Clients.Account executives, and anyone else who deals with clients, will find themselves flinching, laughing, and committing to memory this sound advice, presented through real-life stories of satisfying success and embarrassing failure along the total spectrum of client service.
Customer Reviews:
Easy read, full of real world examples.......2007-04-23
Superb business book for anyone .......2006-05-31
It's not just for Suits.......2006-05-21
THE process for all client service not just Marketing.......2006-05-14
Do not buy if .........2006-05-04
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The Art of Software Support
Francoise Tourniaire , and Richard Farrell Manufacturer: Prentice Hall PTR ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 0135694507 |
Customer Reviews:
Best Available Software Technical Support Book.......2003-03-18
Weak/silent on Phone Skills, Call Monitoring, Time Management, Teamwork, Support Systems.
Support from the Ground Up.......2002-07-31
This book is the first I've seen that looks at the building of a Support Center from the ground up, from budgeting to staffing, to training and retention, support software to development and dissemination of updates. It does so logically, step by step, providing sound reasoning and justification on each page, even to the point of including a complex and reasonable metric for determining staffing levels.
I thought Tourniaire and Farrell fell somewhat short of giving the Support field a complete analysis, concentrating as they do on larger call centers rather than giving weight to the whole spectrum of support providers, like Internal Help Desks or smaller tech centers. Their initial thesis, on the Front Line/Back Line vs. One Hand models of support, is sound, but limited, giving no attention to the possible hybrids or any other models of support center. On the other hand, their description of the call completion cycle is thorough and unlike any I've seen. I also like the idea of writing a "Support Agreement" for one's clients, so everyone knows up front what is and is not covered.
Overall, this is a very fine book and I would recommend it to Support professionals, especially to anyone just starting a new Call Center. Better to have all the info to start than to try and switch focus after ramping up.
Great for Call Centers and Internal IT Tier-2.......2001-03-29
My review is from the viewpoint of an IT service delivery specialist. Product support specialists will have a different, but loosely related, set of requirements.
The theme of this book is achieving customer satisfaction. This surfaces early in the book and recurs throughout. Since customer satisfaction is the foundation of support, regardless of from whom of where it is delivered, I found this to be one of the highlights of the book.
Call management models outlined by the authors were valuable to me, and I found myself writing notes in the margins and highlighting paragraphs. I skimmed call management implementation because it is outside of the scope of my speciality, but did note that this information would be of interest by anyone who is setting up an internal IT help desk. It goes without saying that this material will be of keen interest to product support organizations that are setting up a call center. One nice touch here is the advice on disaster recovery planning - this is too often overlooked by all organizations and showed the attention to detail that the authors gave when writing this book.
The discussions on packaging support programs and product call center support organizations gave me insights into the challenges faced by software vendors. These insights have armed me with information from which to craft an approach to effectively deal with vendors who are typically at tier-3 from an internal IT point of view. Another section that I found particularly useful covered managing software bugs and code fixes. This material is directly applicable to internal IT tier-2 support, regardless of whether they are dealing with internal developers or outside vendors. There are some gaps here, though. For example, I would have liked a discussion on configuration control boards, prioritization of fixes and enhancements, and configuration and change management. These subjects are important to software vendor product support organizations and internal IT tier-2 folks.
This book also provides sound advice on selecting, justifying and implementing call center tools. Some of these tools are specific to product support call centers (and to an extent, internal IT help desks), such as phone systems and knowledge bases. Other tools, such as bug tracking and problem reproduction environments, are useful to IT tier-2 specialists as they are to call centers.
I found some of the appendices to be especially valuable: Appendix C, determining staff levels, and D, creating and justifying a support center budget, were excellent reading that added to my own professional knowledge.
Overall this is a valuable book that has multiple audiences. Aside from the gaps I mentioned above, I think this book needs to be updated to reflect the growing requirement for e-support. While I was tempted to give 4 stars based on the noted shortcomings, this book is so thorough and rich with ideas and advice that it deserves 5 stars. I only hope that the authors update this book with a second edition that addresses current realities of software support.
Loaded with info but makes a few incorrect assumptions.......2000-08-19
Having both been on the phones and managed software hotlines **and** internal help desks for the past 15 years, I know there is no one way to run a hotline/help desk that applies in every case. You need to take the information they provide and weigh it against your own experiences and the way your company works in order to get the best out of the book. However, the book does address the pros and cons of various approaches which is more than many other books do.
What is missing is a more detailed treatment of call management (the actual work on the phone) and not problem management (the handling of the customer's problem). Therefore, check out Call Center Management on Fast Forward, by Brad Cleveland.
If the book had been more open to the possibility that not all companies are the same, I would have given it the full five stars. However, this is still one of the very best books on the market and I would still recommend this book highly.
This is the Software Support Bible.......1999-06-01
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Superior Customer Value in the New Economy: Concepts and Cases, Second Edition
William C. Johnson , and Art Weinstein Manufacturer: CRC ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 1574443569 |
Book Description
Great companies consistently meet and exceed customer desires. Superior Customer Value in the New Economy: Concepts and Cases, Second Edition offers a blueprint for responding effectively to customer demands and for creating the benchmarks common to world-class service companies. The Second Edition elaborates on the latest perspectives of the business and academic communities, exploring leading marketing and managing developments in the crucial area of customer value (CV). It delivers expert guidance on designing, implementing, and evaluating a CV strategy that benefits e-service and information-based organizations. Building upon concepts, cases, and in-chapter applications, the book addresses best practices, organizational responsiveness, market orientation, and the planning and strategy issues that result in high rates of customer satisfaction in e-service and information-based organizations. It concludes with 18 detailed, "hands-on" examples of companies attempting to create customer value. Each case study delivers an in-depth look at major CV themes such as responding to change, being customer oriented, customer loyalty, and more. Each of these real-world examples provides excellent learning opportunities to model effective customer value behavior and practices.
Customer Reviews:
Superior Customer Value in the New Economy: Concepts and Cases, Second Edition.......2007-06-09
Excellent reference book for customer service and how this creates value .......2007-05-09
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Service That Sells! the Art of Profitable Hospitality
Phil Roberts , and Jim Sullivan Manufacturer: Pencom ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 1879239000 |
Book Description
The best-selling book in foodservice history, printed in multiple languages. English, Spanish, French, German and Korean versions available. The bible of profitable hospitality for owners, operators and managers committed to maximizing service and sales potential.Customer Reviews:
Service that sells.......2007-06-08
The best service book ever.......2006-02-25
Great Read!.......2002-12-16
A FIVE STARS TOOL.......2002-05-19
Money in your pocket!.......2000-10-18
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Samurai Selling: The Ancient Art of Modern Service
Chuck Laughlin Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 0312118856 |
Book Description
Samurai Selling is a unique guide for the modern salesperson. The code of the ancient Japanese samurai is grounded in service and personal character. Samurai Selling shows sales professionals how to apply the code of the samurai, so that whether you sell cars, real estate, office products, or personal home products, you have fresh and powerful techniques to win life-long customers.Samurai Selling tells stories of the ancient samurai and relates them to today's competitive sales climate. Based on a proven seminar which the authors have taught to thousands of managers and sales professionals, the book is filled with practical tips, examples, and exercises that will hone your selling skills and improve your customer service.Customer Reviews:
The art of service.......2007-06-08
Fantastic selling book.......2006-06-15
If this is a book by a Christian it is good (God).......2006-06-15
Good stuff.......2006-06-10
Tips of power and passion.......2006-06-09
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Managing the Emotional Homeowner: The Remodeler's Guide to Happy Customers
David Lupberger , and Bill Still Manufacturer: Builderbooks ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 0867185198 |
Book Description
From elated to frantic and back again, a remodeling project is an emotional roller coaster. This is not only the case for the homeowner but for you too if you're not prepared. All homeowners are emotional when it comes to their remodeling project. David Lupberger teaches you how managing the homeowner is more important than managing the job. It takes skill, professionalism, patience and a few tips on parenting to come out of the remodeling experience with happy home owners. Managing the Emotional Homeowner is the resource remodelers have been looking for to help them and their clients enjoy the ride. Diskette includedBooks:
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