Satisfaction: How Every Great Company Listens to the Voice of the Customer by Chris Denove, James Power

From the Publisher

At last, the ultimate guide to customer satisfaction by the world's leading authority on the subject

For nearly four decades, J. D. Power and Associates has been measuring consumer satisfaction and helping businesses improve profits by paying attention to what customers really want. Their annual awards are widely publicized and valued worldwide for what they say about a company's commitment to its customers. Now, at last, the company has created the definitive book on how to boost profits by increasing customer satisfaction.

Although most businesses pay lip service to putting customers first, few actually listen to the voice of the customer and use it as a tangible asset. In this book, J. D. Power and Associates provides an insider's perspective on some of the most successful companies on the planet. Corporate giants such as Toyota and Staples and local legends like Mike Diamond Plumbing all use customer satisfaction as their key to market dominance.

Satisfaction opens the vault on years of J. D. Power data, quantifying the elusive links between satisfaction and customer loyalty, market share, and profits. The book provides extensive coverage of the varying touchpoints of consumer satisfaction—covering every type of business from service providers to product manufacturers—and shows companies in detail how to make a commitment to consumers at the highest levels and translate this commitment into strategies and practices.

For any business that wants to reap the rewards that come when they truly put the customer first, this is the ultimate guide.

Library Journal

A customer's experience with a retailer, call center, or web site should be positive. At a minimum, any company's customer service department should acknowledge its customers, answer their calls, and be capable of processing their orders. Customer service is one of the hottest new topics in the world of marketing. Denove and Power, both affiliated with J.D. Power and Associates, get down to the basics of the subject in this book. Most executives seem to understand that if you give people a negative experience, they will tell their friends over and over again, but, as the authors state here, those same executives often fail to see that the company call center-full of tired and unmotivated customer service employees who make up a growing industry in itself-may not be the best way to give customers what they want in the first place. In contrast, JetBlue customer service representatives often get to work out of their homes. Denove and Power do a great job of arguing why customer satisfaction is important for any business and how to make it a part of an entire organization. Similar books include Janelle Barlow and Paul Stewart's Branded Customer Service, which speaks of the emotional level at which good or bad service affects customers, and Jeffrey F. Rayport and Bernard J. Jaworski's Best Face Forward, which argues for programmed customer service technologies, as a stable and predictable solution. Because Satisfaction is really intended for practicing professionals, it is an appropriate acquisition for corporate as well as business school libraries.-Stephen Turner, Turner & Assocs., San Francisco Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Soundveiw Review - Soundview Executive Book Summaries

Despite the rhetoric, most organizations have not made a significant and sustained commitment to customer satisfaction. This lack of attention to customer satisfaction can be costly. There is an intractable connection between high levels of customer satisfaction and increased shareholder value. Anecdotal evidence abounds to support the theory that high customer satisfaction is important, but most chief executives need more than a good story to prod them into action.

The Relationship Between Satisfaction and Shareholder Value
One J. D. Powers and Associates study showed that the relationship between satisfaction and shareholder value wasn't just visible; it was paramount! Companies were divided into one of three groups: companies whose customer satisfaction rank within their industry remained constant, those whose rank improved and those whose satisfaction ranking dropped relative to their industry competitors. The companies that improved customer satisfaction more than doubled their shareholder value! And those whose rank declined lost 22 percent of their value within the previous five years.

Loyalty: The Common Denominator for Improving Customer Satisfaction
Studies show that customer satisfaction does in fact impact the likelihood your customers will return, but customer satisfaction is only one of many factors that determine actual loyalty.

Different Companies, Different Touchpoints
It might be difficult to compare the fortunes of a plumber, a major Japanese automaker and a U.S. office supplies retailer, but Mike Diamond Plumbing, Toyota Motor Co. and Staples have one very important point in common: Each has demonstrated an in-depth knowledge of the various ways its business touches customers and has used that knowledge to maximize both its sales and customer satisfaction. Each company offers up dramatic examples of how the three major categories of businesses - service providers, product manufacturers and retailers - touch its customers in a unique way.

Product Details

• Table of Contents