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Customer Care Excellence
Book

Customer Care Excellence

How to Create an Effective Customer Focus

Sarah Cook
Kogan Page, 2008
First Edition: 1992
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Editorial Rating

7

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  • Applicable

Recommendation

Customers’ collective buying power can make or break any company. While this may not be news to businesses, customers themselves are now realizing their collective strength and flexing their muscles. That makes customer satisfaction and retention even more crucial. Sarah Cook does a great job of showing the business impact of keeping your customers happy. She cites pivotal studies and tells numerous stories from actual companies to prove her thesis. In unembellished textbook style, she explains what really matters to consumers and how some companies have made their operations more customer-centric. While the book is slightly repetitive, it is also practical and informative. getAbstract recommends it to anyone who wants to build repeat customers and boost employee morale.

Summary

Customer Focus

Faced with an unprecedented level of competition due to globalization and other economic forces, many business managers have realized that their companies cannot compete on price alone.

Instead, they are focusing on exceptional customer service. High-quality service provides a basis for differentiation and catalyzes growth. Studies have found that companies can gain up to 6% in market share by being service-driven. In fact, improved service has rescued companies from a sea of red ink:

  • The Royal Bank of Scotland recovered from a nearly flat bottom line to regain a £200 million profit due, in large part, to improved customer service.
  • Tesco, the U.K. retailer, increased its profitability and market share by deliberately becoming more customer-centric.

While many businesses acknowledge the importance of great customer service, few deliver it successfully. One problem is that customers have changed; they are increasingly sophisticated and well informed about what they want. Customers want more choices and they are aware of their power as consumers. Empowered customers are using the Web to make price, quality, service and...

About the Author

Sarah Cook is managing director of Stairway Consultancy, customer service specialists. She is also the author of Change Management Excellence, Practical Benchmarking and //How to Improve Your Customer Service.

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