Business : Customer Service

A world-renowned innovation guru explains practices that result in breakthrough innovations. ''Ulwick's outcome-driven programs bring discipline and predictability to the often random process of innovation.''. -Clayton Christensen. For years, companies have accepted the underlying principles that define the customer-driven paradigm--that is, using customer ''requirements'' to guide growth and innovation. But twenty years into this movement, breakthrough innovations are still rare, and most companies find that 50 to 90 percent of their innovation initiatives flop. The cost of these failures to U.S. companies alone is estimated to be well over $100 billion annually. In a book that challenges everything you have learned about being customer driven, internationally acclaimed innovation leader Anthony Ulwick reveals the secret weapon behind some of the most successful companies of recent years. Known as ''outcome-driven'' innovation, this revolutionary approach to new product and service creation transforms innovation from a nebulous art into a rigorous science from which randomness and uncertainty are eliminated. Based on more than 200 studies spanning more than seventy companies and twenty-five industries, Ulwick contends that, when it comes to innovation, the traditional methods companies use to communicate with customers are the root cause of chronic waste and missed opportunity. In What Customers Want , Ulwick demonstrates that all popular qualitative research methods yield well-intentioned but unfitting and dreadfully misleading information that serves to derail the innovation process. Rather than accepting customer inputs such as ''needs,'' ''benefits,'' ''specifications,'' and ''solutions,'' Ulwick argues that researchers should silence the literal ''voice of the customer'' and focus on the ''metrics that customers use to measure success when executing the jobs, tasks or activities they are trying to get done.'' Using these customer desired outcomes as inputs int more...

Price: $24.95

In a world where knowledge is king, the Web never sleeps. Today's customers have three insatiable demands: they want their product or service free, and perfect - and they want it now. No matter what business you're in, you have to find a way to respond or you risk losing your customers. Prepare for the future - a future you can't predict. more...

Price: $17.95

Today’s customers are demanding service that is faster, better, and more personalized than ever before. How can organizations ensure that they are prepared to meet that challenge? The latest addition to the best-selling Knock Your Socks Off Service® series, 101 Activities for Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service provides readers with the practical tools and cost-effective training required to help meet their customers’ needs. Taking the unique position of seeing things from the customer’s perspective, this collection of fun and enlightening exercises teaches customer service managers and employees valuable ways to help their organizations provide world-class service, and helps them create an action plan for improvement. Written in the same accessible and humorous style that made Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service so popular, this companion guide covers such topics as: • how to say no • empathy vs. sympathy • service recovery • listening • email • telephone skills • customers from hell • winning words and soothing phrases • anticipting customer needs • building reliability • customer feedback • keeping a stress log • and more These simple but effective activities take only minutes, but deliver truly powerful, lasting results. more...

Price: $34.95

Lots of practical tips to help you and your staff deliver excellent customer service, ensuring your existing customers keep coming back and new customers are attracted to your business. more...

Price: $19.95

A veteran of quality management describes processes and techniques by which a product development team can focus and communicate early. He provides a sequence for defining the company focus, defining the market, and customer focus, and describes a set of tools that can be used within the focus window. He assumes readers to be familiar with the qual more...

Price: $74.95