University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Anticipate
Book

Anticipate

Knowing What Customers Need Before They Do

Bill Thomas and Jeff Tobe
Wiley, 2012
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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

At the bottom of every Southwest Airlines paycheck is the sentence: “This paycheck is made possible because of your customers.” That idea should be the prevailing attitude within every company. Despite employing too much jargon and too many lists, Bill Thomas and Jeff Tobe, experts on consumer focus, do a good job of detailing how organizations can improve their clients’ experiences and, thus, generate more revenue. getAbstract recommends this perceptive manual to everyone who has customers, no matter what the scale of their business, business model, focus or framework.

Summary

Giving Customers Consistent Value and Assessing Their Value to You

Companies succeed or fail depending on what their customers think about them and on the experiences – and value – they provide to that clientele. Revenue and profits tie directly to the value that firms deliver to their customers. To take advantage of that opportunity, you must decide which customers to focus on, and that calls for analyzing how much each buyer contributes to your bottom line. Categorize your customers by six criteria:

  1. “Products” – How much each customer purchases.
  2. “Brand” – How much each customer promotes your goods or services over your rivals’.
  3. “Referrals” – How many referrals each customer provides.
  4. “Share of wallet” – What percentage of a product or service each customer buys from you as a percentage of his or her total spending in that area.
  5. “Potential” – What you predict each customer will purchase from you in the future.
  6. “Relationship” – Whether it is easy or difficult...

About the Authors

Bill Thomas founded Centric Performance LLC, a customer focus consultancy. Jeff Tobe founded Coloring Outside the Lines, which consults on the customer experience.

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