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by Peter Fitzgerald (Illustrator), Maurice Fitzgerald (Author)
Engage hearts, minds and organizations to make customers happierWe will show you howYou probably have lots ideas that will make things better for customers, but you don't have the time, money or people to implement everything. How should you go about choosing the best ideas? How can you secure the resources you need to be successful? How can you bring more customer focus to your entire company? I want to help you to make all of that happen.
Three keys to successI learned about customer experience in the clothing industry, and went on to lead it in three of the largest high-tech companies. Three things remained constant throughout that time. First, you are probably wrong if you think you know what customers want, but have not actually asked them. Second, it can be really hard to get the people and other resources you need to improve things for customers. Third, unless you take a systematic approach to creating and implementing a customer experience improvement strategy, you cannot possibly be successful.
Use my experience to accelerate yoursWhether you are starting a new position in customer experience or have many successful years behind you, I believe I can provide new insights that will help you to get things done quickly. I have made many mistakes over many years. I learned from them, and have now documented what I learned. I have faced all sorts of problems. I have solved almost all of them, perhaps not perfectly. Hopefully you can learn what I learned, and do even better.
Strategy is all about resource allocationI have learned one fundamental thing about designing business strategy and customer experience strategy. It is all about allocation of resources: people and money. Any investment you make in people and money must return more than it costs. If you don't already have the people and money, you have to ask for them. The people you ask will want you to justify your proposal, based on facts. You will also have to appeal to their emotions. I will show you how to do that.
Engage both hearts and mindsI have also learned one thing about persuading leaders and employees to adopt, fund, and implement a customer experience strategy. You can only be successful by engaging people's emotions, rather than simply presenting the facts. My work was far more successful once I understood exactly how to engage both hearts and minds, based on the principles of behavioural economics.
Artwork that makes it memorableI have the good fortune to have a brother who combines two rare talents. He has an Oxford doctorate in cognitive psychology, and he is a successful artist. He also has a weird sense of humor. He has used this special combination to make many points in the book far more memorable. You won't find this in any other strategy books.
Updated in March 2019I updated my research on the relationship between customer and employee satisfaction (now covers 398 large businesses selling to US consumers) in March 2019, and updated the corresponding section of the book. This and a series of other minor improvements brought new versions of the Kindle and print editions of the book in early March 2019.
Now what?So, how do you go about deciding what to do next? That is what this book is all about. It provides a straightforward methodology for studying what your customers and partners want, and other major factors that drive decisions. There is a special focus on communication. I have used it successfully at large and small scale. I have used it at HP to drive country strategies, business unit strategies and M&A strategies. I have used it for a small software company with only four employees. It scales well. I believe it is the best possible way of developing a customer experience strategy in a short time. It does work. You do need it. You are just a click or two away. You know what to do now.
