Customer Astonishment: 10 Secrets to World-Class Customer Care

by Darby Checketts

Great customer relationships make the world go around. Customers give us the opportunity to apply our talents to serve them. Then, they transfer money from their bank accounts to ours so that we have the financial leverage to meet our goals. This simple, everyday economic interdependence is what business success, professional accountability, and personal prosperity are all about. In today's competitive world, a satisfied customer is no longer enough. A satisfied customer is still shopping around until you provide that WOW experience and make that WOW connection that creates customer loyalty. To do so, you must move beyond mere customer service to the new world of Customer Astonishment. To astonish is to strike with awe and wonder. Author Darby Checketts has spent the past 14 years preparing to show you how. You will learn the principles and methods to make these secrets work for you and your team. Discover the Power of WOW, which is necessary to positively astonish those who depend on you. Set your own mark for world-class customer care.

166 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2006

Reviews

[JD · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you can overlook Checkett's cheerleader narrative, shameless book plugs, and the lame (and seemingly desperate) attempts to develop catch phrases, then you will find a lot of very useful information concerning customer service. Checkett's does touch on the importance of technology, treating your employees as "internal customers", and it's relationship with customer service but I don't think the point was stressed enough. My guess is because it's an involved and alienating subject but nevertheless the information the book did provide was worth the painful read.

[Jary Welker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an exceptional book. In the era of web based businesses taking market share from the brick and mortar shops this is a MUST READ. A quote early in the book, and repeated in conclusion sums it up well. "A computer can do the work of 50 ordinary men and women. No computer can do the work of a single extraordinary man or woman." Darby Checketts will teach you how to be that "single extraordinary man or woman" so that not only you can stand out in the sea of ordinariness but so that you can lead your enterprise to do the same.

[Amanda]

Contains 10 secrets to excellence in CS: create customer champions, chain customers through communication, get own team solid, conflict free, priorities straight, promote clarity, create options rather than yes or no, become problem solvers. Satisfied customer no longer enough because he still shops around. You have to wow him, essentially creating a connection of awe and wonder that creates customer loyalty.