Your Customer Rules!: Delivering the Me2B Experiences That Today s Customers Demand

Book description

What you need to know about your customers

Now more than ever, every interaction you have with customers is critical. Customers today have unlimited information at their fingertips—and can influence the purchase decisions and behaviors of millions of others. With this comes a shift in the balance of power, and every company must come to terms with the fact that the customer is in control. Interacting with customers in the way they want is an essential business strategy and in many industries, the key to business success.

Executives still refer to B2B and B2C business models, as though companies control demand by going to customers with products and services. But as Bill Price and David Jaffe (authors of The Best Service is No Service) show, a new business model is emerging in which the customer directs the relationship. It is becoming a world of "Me2B"—one in which the customer, not the business, dictates the terms of engagement. In order for your business to thrive, you must create positive experiences to fulfill a range of customer needs.

Though the mediums for customer engagement continuously evolve, Price and Jaffe show that customer needs remain unchanging. In Your Customer Rules!, they define a critical hierarchy of seven needs that your company can meet and apply as a methodology.

Throughout this practical guidebook, Price and Jaffe share examples of companies who succeed by meeting these seven needs, including Amazon, Apple, IKEA, Nordstrom, USAA, Shoes of Prey, Vente-Privee, and Yamato Transport, as well as those that didn't. Your Customer Rules! offers tailored advice for companies at every stage, from nimble startups to legacy firms with established customer service practices—and everyone in between.

With a simple, elegant solution for driving lasting value for customers, Your Customer Rules! is a clear guide for strengthening customer relationships and competing on more than price. It is essential reading for executives at all levels—business owners, marketing managers, and anyone who works directly with customers.

Table of contents

  1. More Praise for Your Customer Rules!
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Preface
    1. Our Unique Process
  6. Chapter One: From B2C to Me2B
    1. What Used to Work, Doesn't Work Anymore
    2. Welcome to the Me2B World: Now Your Customer Rules!
    3. Back to Fundamentals in the Me2B Era
    4. What Drives Me2B Leaders
    5. The Foundations of Me2B Success
    6. Notes
  7. Chapter Two: You Know Me, You Remember Me
    1. You Know Me Everywhere and All the Time
    2. You Never Ask What You Already Know
    3. You Know My Preferences
    4. You Predict My Needs Intelligently
    5. You Know Me and Mine
    6. You Know When I Don't Want to Be Known
    7. Why “You Know Me, You Remember Me” Is So Important
    8. Meet the Challenge: You Know Me, You Remember Me
    9. Notes
  8. Chapter Three: You Give Me Choices
    1. You Let Me Choose “What” and “How Much”
    2. You Let Me Decide How and Where I Do Things
    3. I Can Do It on My Time
    4. You Give Me the Advice That I Need, When I Need It
    5. I Get to Control with Whom I Work
    6. You Let Me Design It
    7. Why “You Give Me Choices” Is So Important
    8. Meet the Challenge: You Give Me Choices
    9. Notes
  9. Chapter Four: You Make It Easy for Me
    1. You Make It Easy for Me to Buy from You
    2. You Allow Me to Use Your Product or Service Without Contacting You
    3. You Let Me Make the Process Easy for Me
    4. You Don't Make Me Have to Learn How to Navigate Your Organization
    5. You Get It Right for Me the First Time—or If Not, You Fix It Once and for All
    6. You Don't Ask Me About My Effort
    7. Why “You Make It Easy for Me” Is So Important
    8. Meet the Challenge: You Make It Easy for Me
    9. Notes
  10. Chapter Five: You Value Me
    1. You Value My Potential
    2. You Value the Length and Depth of My Relationship with You
    3. You Listen to Me and Act on What I Say
    4. You Value My Time and Effort
    5. You Make Sure Your Partners Value Me as You Do
    6. Why “You Value Me” Is So Important
    7. Meet the Challenge: You Value Me
    8. Notes
  11. Chapter Six: You Trust Me
    1. You Don't Tar Me with the Same Brush
    2. You Don't Impose an Arbitrary Policy on Me; You Allow Exceptions
    3. You Trust My Version of Events
    4. You Enable Me to Trust You
    5. You Trust Me to Advise Others
    6. Why “You Trust Me” Is So Important
    7. Meet the Challenge: You Trust Me
    8. Notes
  12. Chapter Seven: You Surprise Me with Stuff I Can't Imagine
    1. You Do More Than I Expect at Key Moments
    2. You Make the Complex World Simple for Me
    3. You Treat Me Like a New Customer All the Time
    4. You Only Surprise Me When It Is Appropriate
    5. You Do Things I Didn't Think or Know Were Possible
    6. When You Fail Me, You Do More Than Just Fix It
    7. Why “You Surprise Me with Stuff That I Can't Imagine” Is So Important
    8. Meet the Challenge: You Surprise Me
    9. Notes
  13. Chapter Eight: You Help Me Be Better and Do More
    1. You Support Me Beyond the Product Sale
    2. You Coach Me to Use Things Better
    3. You Help Me Use Less of Your Stuff
    4. You Help Me Look Forward
    5. You Help Me Get Things That I Didn't Think I Could
    6. Why “You Help Me Be Better and Do More” Is So Important
    7. Meet the Challenge: You Help Me Be Better and Do More
    8. Notes
  14. Chapter Nine: What Drives Me2B Leaders
    1. The Naturals
    2. The Challengers
    3. The Rebounders
    4. The Defending Dominators
    5. Can Other Companies Change?
    6. Notes
  15. Chapter Ten: The Foundations of Me2B Success
    1. Foundation One: A Customer-Oriented Culture
    2. Foundation Two: Streamlined Processes
    3. Foundation Three: Integrated Channels
    4. Foundation Four: Energized People
    5. Integrating the Foundations of Me2B Excellence
    6. Notes
  16. Epilogue: Don't Wait to Act
  17. Glossary
  18. Recommended Reading
  19. Acknowledgments
  20. About the Authors
  21. More from Wiley
  22. Index
  23. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Your Customer Rules!: Delivering the Me2B Experiences That Today s Customers Demand
  • Author(s): Bill Price, David Jaffe
  • Release date: December 2014
  • Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
  • ISBN: 9781118954775