What do you think?
Rate this book
Inside Your Customer's Imagination: 5 Secrets for Creating Breakthrough Products, Services, and Solutions
Chip Bell's unique perspective, lively illustrations, and practical advice result in one terrific resource for anyone eager to tap a customer's ingenuity for creating breakthrough results.--Jeanne Bliss, founder and CEO, CustomerBliss; and cofounder, Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA)Organizations need to offer customers breakthrough products, services, and solutions to effectively compete in today's innovation-hungry economy. The challenge is customers often don't know precisely what they want. As Henry Ford is reputed to have said, "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."To surprise and awe your customers, Chip Bell advises developing co-creation partnerships with them. Co-creation partnerships are about fulfilling customers' hopes and aspirations, not just their needs and expectations. Co-creation partnerships require (1) curiosity that uncovers insight, (2) grounding that promotes clear focus, (3) discovery that fosters risk-taking, (4) trust that safeguards partnership purity, and (5) passion that inspires energized generosity.Using examples from organizations like McDonald's, DHL, Marriott, Lockheed Martin, Discover Financial, Ultimate Software, and many more, Bell shows how co-creation partnerships enable you to tap into the treasure trove of ideas, ingenuity, and genius-in-the-raw within every customer.
- GenresBusiness
282 pages, Paperback
Published July 28, 2023
6 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
Chip R. Bell
40 books30 followersThe author of 24 books, Chip's newest book, "Inside Your Customer's Imagination: 5 Secrets to Creating Breakthrough Products, Services, and Solutions,” launched September 2020.
He is also author of bestsellers:
"Kaleidoscope: Delivering Innovative Service That Sparkles”
"Sprinkles: Creating Awesome Experiences Through Innovative Service"
"The 9 1/2 Principles of Innovative Service”
"Take Their Breath Away" (with John Patterson)
"Managers As Mentors: Building Partnerships for Learning" (with Marshall Goldsmith)
“Customers as Partners"
"Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service" (with Ron Zemke)
“Magnetic Service” (with Bilijack Bell)
He has served as keynote speaker, consultant, and trainer on innovative service to such major organizations as GE, Microsoft, Nationwide, Marriott, Lockheed-Martin, Cadillac, Ultimate Software, KeyBank, Ritz-Carlton Hotels, Caterpillar, Eli Lilly, Verizon, Best Buy, USAA, Hertz, Accenture, Home Depot, and Harley-Davidson. He is a keynote speaker on topics such as customer loyalty, partnering with customers, and creating innovative service experiences. Global Gurus has ranked him for the last eight years in a row among the top ten keynote speakers in the world on customer service, with two years in the top slot.
He was a highly decorated infantry unit commander in Vietnam with the elite 82nd Airborne and served as a guerrilla tactics instructor at the U.S. Army Infantry School. His training programs have won awards including a Stevie Award in 2018.
He has appeared live on CNBC, CNN, Fox Business Network, Bloomberg TV, NPR, ABC and his work has been featured in Fortune, Businessweek, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Success Magazine, Real Leaders, CEO Magazine, and Fast Company.
To book Chip as a speaker or consultant, visit www.chipbell.com
He is also author of bestsellers:
"Kaleidoscope: Delivering Innovative Service That Sparkles”
"Sprinkles: Creating Awesome Experiences Through Innovative Service"
"The 9 1/2 Principles of Innovative Service”
"Take Their Breath Away" (with John Patterson)
"Managers As Mentors: Building Partnerships for Learning" (with Marshall Goldsmith)
“Customers as Partners"
"Managing Knock Your Socks Off Service" (with Ron Zemke)
“Magnetic Service” (with Bilijack Bell)
He has served as keynote speaker, consultant, and trainer on innovative service to such major organizations as GE, Microsoft, Nationwide, Marriott, Lockheed-Martin, Cadillac, Ultimate Software, KeyBank, Ritz-Carlton Hotels, Caterpillar, Eli Lilly, Verizon, Best Buy, USAA, Hertz, Accenture, Home Depot, and Harley-Davidson. He is a keynote speaker on topics such as customer loyalty, partnering with customers, and creating innovative service experiences. Global Gurus has ranked him for the last eight years in a row among the top ten keynote speakers in the world on customer service, with two years in the top slot.
He was a highly decorated infantry unit commander in Vietnam with the elite 82nd Airborne and served as a guerrilla tactics instructor at the U.S. Army Infantry School. His training programs have won awards including a Stevie Award in 2018.
He has appeared live on CNBC, CNN, Fox Business Network, Bloomberg TV, NPR, ABC and his work has been featured in Fortune, Businessweek, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Success Magazine, Real Leaders, CEO Magazine, and Fast Company.
To book Chip as a speaker or consultant, visit www.chipbell.com
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 21, 2020
Most of us crave to be the innovator who comes up with a new product, snappy tagline, or a way to tap into a new market to bedazzle our customers. Sadly, most companies’ storm ahead using internal ideas and projections without consulting their customers or evaluating what people in the marketplace are clamoring for.
As leaders, we need to cease believing that we know exactly what our customers want. The only way to do this is to not only ask them but also create a partnership with them along our journey to bring innovation, change, new products, and service excellence. Where do we start? We form a Co-Creation Partnership where we form intimate customer connections with a high level of freedom and an obsession to actually become our customer.
Chip Bell’s new book Inside your Customers Imagination – 5 Secrets for Creating Breakthrough Products, Services, and Solutions offers a blueprint to climb into your customers’ imagination to invite creative insight and contributions into what they want. Customers do not always know what they want nor do we! We need to form a Co-Creation Partnership to land on the same page so we can fulfill their hopes and aspirations, not just their needs. Not taking the extra step to delight customers only results in the same offerings packaged differently which no one wants.
When we collaborate, both parties give up control to manipulate the outcome that we think our clients want. Our relationship should value candor and focus on zeal and attention to our customers' needs, problems, and concerns. Chip has five secrets for Co-Creation Partnership. The partnership goal is to encourage customers to discover new ideas, ingenuity, better listening, empathy, and asking us to jump into their shoes.
The 5 Secrets for Co-Creation Partnerships
1. Curiosity – We want to be the customer. Ask questions, look at their needs in a different light, ask more questions
2. Grounding – Partner with purpose while focusing on innovation and the customers' hopes and needs
3. Discovery – “Spark daredevil learning”
4. Trust – Pursue the truth with justice while following the path of innovation
5. Passion – Keep the excitement and ideas alive. Never stop “courting” your customers
My favorite aspect of the book is the engaging real-life stories of following the journey of companies and professionals who have embarked on partnerships to find customer gold at the end of the rainbow. The stories help solidify the concepts that Chip Bell spells out. We get an inside peek at companies like McDonald's, Discover Financial, and Lockheed Martin. This book reads like a recipe for how to jump into your customers' shoes, learn what they need and want, and what it takes to really form sound customer partnerships that produce outcomes, trust, and solutions.
Inside Your Customer’s Imagination: 5 Secrets for Creating Breakthrough Products, Services, and Solutions needs to be on your bookshelf if you want to really tap into your customers' minds and see what they see and want.
As leaders, we need to cease believing that we know exactly what our customers want. The only way to do this is to not only ask them but also create a partnership with them along our journey to bring innovation, change, new products, and service excellence. Where do we start? We form a Co-Creation Partnership where we form intimate customer connections with a high level of freedom and an obsession to actually become our customer.
Chip Bell’s new book Inside your Customers Imagination – 5 Secrets for Creating Breakthrough Products, Services, and Solutions offers a blueprint to climb into your customers’ imagination to invite creative insight and contributions into what they want. Customers do not always know what they want nor do we! We need to form a Co-Creation Partnership to land on the same page so we can fulfill their hopes and aspirations, not just their needs. Not taking the extra step to delight customers only results in the same offerings packaged differently which no one wants.
When we collaborate, both parties give up control to manipulate the outcome that we think our clients want. Our relationship should value candor and focus on zeal and attention to our customers' needs, problems, and concerns. Chip has five secrets for Co-Creation Partnership. The partnership goal is to encourage customers to discover new ideas, ingenuity, better listening, empathy, and asking us to jump into their shoes.
The 5 Secrets for Co-Creation Partnerships
1. Curiosity – We want to be the customer. Ask questions, look at their needs in a different light, ask more questions
2. Grounding – Partner with purpose while focusing on innovation and the customers' hopes and needs
3. Discovery – “Spark daredevil learning”
4. Trust – Pursue the truth with justice while following the path of innovation
5. Passion – Keep the excitement and ideas alive. Never stop “courting” your customers
My favorite aspect of the book is the engaging real-life stories of following the journey of companies and professionals who have embarked on partnerships to find customer gold at the end of the rainbow. The stories help solidify the concepts that Chip Bell spells out. We get an inside peek at companies like McDonald's, Discover Financial, and Lockheed Martin. This book reads like a recipe for how to jump into your customers' shoes, learn what they need and want, and what it takes to really form sound customer partnerships that produce outcomes, trust, and solutions.
Inside Your Customer’s Imagination: 5 Secrets for Creating Breakthrough Products, Services, and Solutions needs to be on your bookshelf if you want to really tap into your customers' minds and see what they see and want.
September 8, 2020
In this book by Chip Bell, we gain insight and methods for unlocking creativity by collaborating with customers. Of course, the first thing that Bell suggests it to actually get a customer. By establishing this collaboration, we see things from the perspective of people who are willing to part with their money to acquire goods and services we offer. The subtitle of the book, “5 Secrets for Creating Breakthrough Products, Services, and Solutions”, provides the outline for the content of the book – though the “secrets” are no longer secret with the book’s publication.
The book is broken into five sections, one for each “secret”. They are curiosity, grounding, discovery, trust, and passion. For each of the sections, there are three chapters that provide an outline of how to best develop each element of the book and provide the promised breakthroughs. Although it is easy to approach such a book with skepticism, as your reviewer did, the practical approach and examples of success that are provided are compelling. Over the course of reading the book, one sees the benefits of Bell’s approach and how these general principles can be applied to an individual business or product set.
Business references abound with how-to guides and methods for managing businesses. This book is different in its practical approach to engaging customers and opening those possibilities to enhance and expand how products and services are developed and presented to the marketplace. It is a welcome addition to the product leader’s bookshelf.
The book is broken into five sections, one for each “secret”. They are curiosity, grounding, discovery, trust, and passion. For each of the sections, there are three chapters that provide an outline of how to best develop each element of the book and provide the promised breakthroughs. Although it is easy to approach such a book with skepticism, as your reviewer did, the practical approach and examples of success that are provided are compelling. Over the course of reading the book, one sees the benefits of Bell’s approach and how these general principles can be applied to an individual business or product set.
Business references abound with how-to guides and methods for managing businesses. This book is different in its practical approach to engaging customers and opening those possibilities to enhance and expand how products and services are developed and presented to the marketplace. It is a welcome addition to the product leader’s bookshelf.
September 8, 2020
This book had so many interesting stories. It's what I liked the most because it highlighted the points Bell was making. If you have customers, you'll have more long term satisfaction with your company if you adopt a collaborating way of doing business. Bell says there are five secrets to creating breakthrough products, services, and solutions. Curiosity, Bell says isn't the opposite of indifference. "It's the opposite of a judgmental orientation to life." A lack of curiosity deters innovation. Grounding helps you partner with a purpose and maintain focus. Discovery encourages tryouts and learning adventures. Trust focuses on candor, respect, and safeguarding the partnership. Passion co-creates partnerships. The bottom line is success comes when you see your company and your customers as partners and you honor that relationship.
February 19, 2024
Chip will make you think beyond outside the box. It’s not about getting customers, but wowing them and keeping them. I started reading the book because I met Chip, but I finished the book in a week because of its unique content. INSIDE YOUR CUSTOMERS IMAGINATION, is a must read for all entrepreneurs, business leaders, employers, employees, and customers.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews