Book description
A five-step strategy for turning a commodity into a necessity
When products and services become interchangeable, price becomes the ultimate determinant for consumers. Indispensable shows businesses how to break out of that cycle by using The Five Drivers-a strategy that takes companies to the next level of performance. Renowned business consultant Joe Calloway looks at how real companies have made their product or service "mission critical," and satisfied customers in the process.
Indispensable goes straight to the heart of the issue and reveals how successful companies-of any size, in virtually any manufacturing, selling, or service endeavor-achieve market leadership through The Five Drivers of fierce customer loyalty. Indispensable shows readers how to:
Create and sustain momentum: overcome organizational inertia and keep moving forward
Develop habitual dependability: make consistency of performance a defining characteristic
Connect continuously
See the Big Picture Outcome: create compelling customer experiences
Engage, Enchant, Enthrall: make magic in the marketplace
With interviews, detailed case studies, and dozens of real-world, effective customer service ideas and initiatives, Indispensable is just what today's forward-thinking businesses need.
Table of contents
- Copyright
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- 1. The Default Choice
- 2. The Five Drivers
-
3. Case Study: Deluxe
- 3.1. Deluxe Makes Checks
- 3.2. Getting beyond Commodity
- 3.3. The Deluxe Knowledge Exchange Series
- 3.4. Why Would You Do That? What's in It for You?
- 3.5. Creating Relevance to the Customer
- 3.6. Full Accountability
- 3.7. The Expos: Repositioning the Company
- 3.8. Know What the Customer Really, Really Wants
- 3.9. Getting Employee Buy-In
- 3.10. Breaking the Inertia
- 3.11. Courageous Decisions
- 3.12. But Is It Working?
- 4. Back to the Six New Basics
-
5. Case Study: W Hotels
- 5.1. Making My World a Better Place
- 5.2. What Can I Learn?
- 5.3. You're a Customer—What Do You Want?
- 5.4. You Might Be Wrong—Do It
- 5.5. Everything Working for the Vibe
- 5.6. Equals Cool
- 5.7. Back to the Tour—Back to the Lesson
- 5.8. Consistent Performance
- 5.9. That's What Everybody Says
- 5.10. What Is Your Uniqueness?
- 5.11. I Can't Get It Anywhere Else
- 6. Create Community
- 7. Case Study: Gitomer
-
8. Obvious but Often Overlooked
- 8.1. Duh!
- 8.2. Obvious 1: You Had Me at Hello
- 8.3. Why Clichés Become Clichés
- 8.4. Obvious 2: Saying It Doesn't Make It So
- 8.5. A Job Well Done Exceeds Nobody's Expectations
- 8.6. This Is Very Cool
- 8.7. It Wasn't the Way He Wanted It
- 8.8. Obvious 3: Tell the Truth
- 8.9. Do We Really Have to Be Reminded?
-
9. Right Place—Right Time
- 9.1. Eat Here Now
- 9.2. It's in the Right Place
- 9.3. It Depends
- 9.4. Open All Night
- 9.5. Finding the Balance
- 9.6. Nobody Does That in This Business
- 9.7. Have You Lost Your Mind?
- 9.8. What Rules Are You Going to Break?
- 9.9. Can You See Me?
- 9.10. We've Got a Lot of Things to Do
- 9.11. I Can't Go to the Doctor Today—I Have to Go to Target
- 10. Case Study: The Pancake Pantry
-
11. Big Picture Outcome
- 11.1. Andrea and the Walk to the Ballroom
- 11.2. Creating a Big Picture Outcome
- 11.3. Beyond Job Performance
- 11.4. Simple and Extraordinary
- 11.5. Creating a Mini-Friendship
- 11.6. What's the Point?
- 11.7. Bring Jess to Me
- 11.8. He Got It
- 11.9. This Is about You
- 11.10. Don't Be the Coke Machine
- 11.11. The View from 50,000 Feet
-
12. Twenty-Eight Indispensable Lessons
- 12.1. Right under Your Nose
- 12.2. Figure It Out!
-
12.3. Lessons to Be Learned
- 12.3.1. Lesson 1: Have the Lowest Price
- 12.3.2. Lesson 2: Compete against Lowest Price with Your Version of "More"
- 12.3.3. Lesson 3: Wow—Nobody Else Has This
- 12.3.4. Lesson 4: Become a Way of Life
- 12.3.5. Lesson 5: Be the Good Guys and Lesson 6: with a Great Product
- 12.3.6. Lesson 7: Know Your Customers and Lesson 8: Change as They Change
- 12.3.7. Lesson 9: Be One Less Thing to Worry About
- 12.3.8. Lesson 10: Make Life Easier
- 12.3.9. Lesson 11: Know When It's Not Your Job
- 12.4. Lesson 12: Best Effort Every Time
- 12.5. Short Subjects: Lessons One Bite at a Time
- 13. Case Study: Pinnacle Financial Partners
-
14. Repeatable Process
- 14.1. Is It in the Genes?
- 14.2. Removing the Element of Chance
- 14.3. You Don't Want Superstars
- 14.4. You Want Process
- 14.5. So What's the Big Mystery?
- 14.6. What Gets Measured—And Other Things Obvious to All
- 14.7. How Does Anything Happen Consistently?
- 14.8. Hoping for a Different Person
- 14.9. You Figure It Out
- 14.10. Just Do What You Think Will Work
- 14.11. Deciding in Advance
- 14.12. Simple—Not Easy
- 15. Stop Apologizing—Start Doing Your Job
- 16. Case Study: LawTalk
-
17. The Customer Decides
- 17.1. Stories from the Front Lines
- 17.2. Not Easy
- 17.3. The Beer Guy
- 17.4. Four Fundamental Lessons
- 17.5. Duh: Identify Customer Need
- 17.6. See the Big Picture Outcome
- 17.7. Engage, Enchant, and Enthrall
- 17.8. Give Away Some Baseballs
- 17.9. The Follicle God
- 17.10. Lemons to Lemonade
- 17.11. What's the Deal with Dry Cleaners?
- 17.12. The Magic Touch
- 17.13. It Takes a Village
- 17.14. I Pay Extra
- 17.15. Comfort Food
- 17.16. Cheap Joe's
- 17.17. They Answer Their Phone
- 17.18. Twenty-Four Years Later
Product information
- Title: Indispensable: How to Become the Company That Your Customers Can't Live Without
- Author(s):
- Release date: April 2005
- Publisher(s): Wiley
- ISBN: 9780471703082
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