Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service,   ISBN:9780688123161

Customer Rating: 

I recommend this book to friends who are marketing & sales professionals seeking insight into account management best practices. The elegantly simple 3-step process of "Decide, Discover, and Deliver +1" builds customer confidence and trust by consistently selecting customers who are perfect for your business and then perfectly fulfilling your promises to them. It provides a powerful framework to align the interactions of your marketing, sales, and operations teams.

My only complaint is the absence of emphasis on demonstrating and communicating your care/concern for that perfect customer during the entire process. Summarizing an often quoted research study, 68% of dissatisfied customers who voted with their feet (and selected a new vendor to do business with) did so because of a problem with their perception of the customer/supplier relationship. They felt that their former vendor simply did not care enough about them. I recommend adding a 4th step by following the advice in "Mr. Schmooze" by Richard Abraham to alleviate this shortcoming.

In spite of the above critique, I still rated this book a 5-Star Classic that all business leaders and marketing/sales pros should read.

Customer Rating: 

This book is a light quick read with nothing of much substance. A page in a marketing book will cover more than this whole book when it comes to customer service.

Customer Rating: 

Raving Fans is a solid read based on discovery, decision making, visioning, focus and delivery. Want to learn something about running a business? Read Raving Fans.

Customer Rating: 

I'm not a Raving Fan of Raving Fans. The authors belabor their three points by hiding them within a story that is off-putting with the generic Area Manager being the guy whose shoes we're suppose to slip into so we can be guided by Charlie. Yet I recognize some of their techniques in the latest customer-centric policies that Walmart has tried to put into place within the last year. Other contemporary retail stores also trying to follow the idea of flouncing all over the customer and smothering them half-to-death while all the same time, never having enough cashiers to get people in and out. I think the authors really undersold themselves by presenting their ideas in this fantasy-driven format because it does not make it applicable to the real world and working with real people.

So far the strongest driving home point was talking about customers saying they're "Fine" or silent. According to the book, this means that customers aren't telling you their real thoughts. I agree this might be a problem. However, as a cautionary warning, some customers like myself, just aren't chit-chatty and are just there to get my stuff and get out quickly. I'm not looking for a best friend in a retail store. Also from experience working retail, customers hate it if you call them by name. It's creepy and invasive.

My other complaint is that despite my suspicions that the examples in the book are suppose to be a metaphor of some kind, I kept getting annoyed that the examples were in no way realistic to how REAL LIVE customers behave. Most notably were the valet parking and carpeting in a grocery store (you should have heard my dad laugh!) and giving people no limits on how many clothes they can take with them into a dressing room (has the author ever worked retail?!). I understand that this isn't the point of the reading, but I got so distracted by these hilariously poor examples that I can't take the book seriously.

Customer Rating: 

Mr. Blanchard and Mr. Bowles tell a simple story illustrating a three prong approach to creating "Raving Fans" of your company. Many business books teach through compiling management theory, leadership ideals and customer service procedures. Blanchard and Bowles tell the story of a new manager who must turn his company's customer service culture around. Through the eyes of a suprising "assistant" he is able to see how "Raving Fans" are created, and through the telling of the story the authors get across the simple message of how customer servcice is key to companies. Good easy read well worth your time.