Your Customer Rules!: Delivering the Me2B Experiences That Today's Customers Demand

by Bill Price, David Jaffe

What you need to know about your customers

Now more than ever, every interaction you have with customers is critical. Customers today have unlimited information at their fingertips—and can influence the purchase decisions and behaviors of millions of others. With this comes a shift in the balance of power, and every company must come to terms with the fact that the customer is in control. Interacting with customers in the way they want is an essential business strategy and in many industries, the key to business success.

Executives still refer to B2B and B2C business models, as though companies control demand by going to customers with products and services. But as Bill Price and David Jaffe (authors of The Best Service is No Service) show, a new business model is emerging in which the customer directs the relationship. It is becoming a world of "Me2B"—one in which the customer, not the business, dictates the terms of engagement. In order for your business to thrive, you must create positive experiences to fulfill a range of customer needs.

Though the mediums for customer engagement continuously evolve, Price and Jaffe show that customer needs remain unchanging. In Your Customer Rules!, they define a critical hierarchy of seven needs that your company can meet and apply as a methodology.

Throughout this practical guidebook, Price and Jaffe share examples of companies who succeed by meeting these seven needs, including Amazon, Apple, IKEA, Nordstrom, USAA, Shoes of Prey, Vente-Privee, and Yamato Transport, as well as those that didn't. Your Customer Rules! offers tailored advice for companies at every stage, from nimble startups to legacy firms with established customer service practices—and everyone in between.

With a simple, elegant solution for driving lasting value for customers, Your Customer Rules! is a clear guide for strengthening customer relationships and competing on more than price. It is essential reading for executives at all levels—business owners, marketing managers, and anyone who works directly with customers.

251 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 13, 2014

Reviews

[Emiel Aerts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since there were no reviews to be found yet on Goodreads when I saw this book, one might say I took a chance by purchasing this book in hopes of gaining valuable and applicable knowledge. I am glad I did.

This book might be perceived as really dense. In my perception at least, it was. This made for 1) that it was difficult to get through it, relatively, but also 2) that is contains lots of useful information. The authors have done a splendid job, by drawing on numerous case studies, to exemplify in a relevant way the principles they outline in the book. Through successful application of these principles, companies are said to survive and prosper by building strong relationships with customers, so those interested in learning about this topic are the people I'd recommend this book to. I thought it was very funny to read about the 'romantic relationship' approach the authors took to explaining how relationships between businesses and customers come to be, and I found the pyramid approach to the 7 customer needs they introduce to be helpful in terms of understanding the concepts.

To everyone learning about the customer experience area of business, I would recommend this as a must-read.

[Gin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has the answers to most questions to anyone who is invested in making their company customer focused. Mostly it digs into hard truth that most owners and leaders will not want to accept and will deny. If you are questioning or denying any points laid out in this book you should be wary that your company is not customer oriented.

[Alaeddin Hallak · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well-structured book that details with many examples the tenants of exceptional customer service. Especially enjoyed the comics and the many examples driving the point home. Would highly recommend this to anyone starting in the customer experience domain.

I created a mindmap summary of this book:
https://my.mindnode.com/9puD1LzpaFJrC...