Customer Services books

FINALIST: Business Book Awards 2019 - Sales and Marketing Category Virtually all consumer-facing businesses talk about putting the customer first, but in reality, few deliver on this as effectively as they could. 100 Practical Ways to Improve Customer Experience walks readers through a wealth of practical tips, tools, guidelines and frameworks, for implementing customer-focused marketing strategies at every step of the customer journey. By ensuring that the customer remains the key focus, companies can identify areas in need of improvement and implement relevant steps throughout the value chain to transform their business. A unique blend of strategy and best practice, 100 Practical Ways to Improve Customer Experience has a particular focus on multi-channel industries such as retail, FMCG, travel, financial services, leisure, food and beverage, and automotive. These industries are all facing major disruption from trendsetting brands such as Uber, AirBnB and Amazon, and as such, now face more pressure than ever to adopt new practices and remain relevant in a continually competitive marketplace. Featuring case studies packed full of practical examples, this book is a unique and valuable resource for both senior industry professionals looking to transform their business and MBA students. Online resources include a best practice checklist to optimize mobile apps.

B2B Customer Experience shows readers how to deliver the very best customer experience (often referred to as CX), within the business-to-business realm. Marketers have long known that emotions are important in driving our experiences, and the subject is now high on the agenda of B2B companies who want to deliver a 'wow' to their customers. Achieving this 'wow' factor helps organizations distinguish themselves from their competition, while simultaneously winning new business and retaining existing clients. B2B Customer Experience is the essential handbook that guides the reader through the process of creating an exceptional customer experience. Intensely practical in its approach, B2B Customer Experience is divided into five parts to walk readers through the journey of planning, mapping, structuring, implementing and controlling an effective customer experience, all bespoke for the B2B environment. Clearly argued and supported by real-world examples, this text will help readers understand critical features including the difference between customer experience, loyalty and inertia; how to use journey maps to establish strengths and weaknesses in an organization, and how to ensure that sales teams are engaged in the customer experience programme. Discussing some of the best known examples of consumer-focused customer experiences from companies such as Zappos, Nordstrom and John Lewis, B2B Customer Experience is the must-have text for any marketing professional working within a B2B environment.

B2B marketing is functioning in an increasingly fast-paced and complex business landscape, with a wealth of new technologies, tools and channels, and where customers are more in control of the buying process than ever before. With the imperative to become 'digital', B2B marketers have become consumed by the marketing activity itself - the tactics - instead of the outcomes marketers want and need to achieve for customers and businesses. B2B Marketing Strategy provides fresh insight into the challenges marketers are facing in such an environment and offers a new framework for developing B2B marketing strategy and plans. Written by an internationally recognised and award winning senior marketing strategist, B2B Marketing Strategy is a thought-provoking and comprehensive exploration of the state of B2B marketing. Expertly examined, this book will challenge the perspective of B2B marketers by confronting and refuting the many fallacies that currently dominate the industry. Filled with real-world case studies and practical, actionable insights, B2B Marketing Strategy takes the reader through three phases of thinking, doing and being different in order to make B2B marketing memorable in the hearts and minds of customers, creating lasting customer engagement.

Across the global economy, customers' expectations are continually rising - but many companies fail to deliver against those expectations. With the rise in social media, customers are becoming more vocal in expressing any dissatisfaction, which can both lose existing customers and alienate potential new ones. Complaint Management Excellence provides practical advice, tools and techniques for managers to adopt when managing any complaints that come into their organisation. In order to arrive at a culture where complaints are welcomed, the underlying values, processes, structure, strategy and people within an organization all need to be aligned with, and respect, customer needs. Not only does this improve the long-terms prospects for the company itself, but can have a tremendous knock-on effect in terms of boosting employee morale and engagement. With case studies from companies as diverse as John Lewis, Waitrose, DHL, Hilton Hotels, the Starwood group (including Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton hotels) and BT, Complaint Management Excellence explains what customers are really looking for when they make a complaint, how to avoid conflict and how managers can lead culture change to ensure the best experience for all customers and clients.

Discover how the world's best brands create outstanding customer experience, engaged teams and market-beating growth with this practical guide, providing a model that will help any organization deliver effective and seamless customer engagement. Customer experience (CX) has been a phrase in business lexicon for over 30 years. Seen by many as the last battleground, where winners will gain competitive advantage and increased market share, there is not a company in the world that is not in some way focused on the quality of the experience they deliver. However, for many businesses, CX is neither a strategic discipline, consistently applied, nor is it a well-trodden path. It's not easy to deliver exceptional customer experience, again and again, and it becomes difficult to have a CX strategy that provides tangible and measurable results. Customer Experience Excellence provides a route map to CX success. Drawing on a vast body of research collated and curated by the global consulting group KPMG, this book shows how the world's most elite organizations have made excellence a habit, by creating authentic, human connections at scale. Whether dealing with external consumers or internal colleagues, learn how to become an enlightened and agile business and 'think customer' at every single touch point.

Companies who invest in successful Customer eXperience (CX) innovation stand out from the crowd. Markets tend to reward these companies because it is rare for firms to try something new, much less prove customer acceptance of their attempted innovations. Firms offering remarkable CX create loyal customers who happily pay more for their products and services, and then refer them to other customers for free.  This book outlines innovative processes used to research, conceive and develop innovations in the CX space for both large and small companies. The challenge is not so much finding out what customers like, as it is remaining apart from the crowd of rivals and copycats.   Written as a practical guide for managers with a background in line management, operations, marketing, finance or customer service, this book contains a simple framework with an extensive range of design thinking and creative problem solving tools. Starting with a validation for investing in improving your firm’s CX, the book also provides a primer on competitive advantage, the most critical objective of strategic planning. Mastering the book’s content creates the potential for any business manager or owner to find a hard-to-copy market advantage and drive their business’ growth.

Many organizations and leaders struggle to respond effectively to fast-evolving customer expectations driven by innovations in products, services and technologies such as AI and mobile. Failing to build the necessary strategy, culture and processes, they suffer from high costs, dissatisfied customers and brand damage. The mandate to get customer experience right is real and urgent. Leading the Customer Experience is a guide to shaping experiences that win loyalty and deliver outstanding business results. It provides a bold, step-by-step approach that will get you and your team pointed in the right direction. And equipped to make sound decisions along the way. Leading the Customer Experience is easy to understand and imminently practical. It is based on the author's extensive experience both as a founding partner of one of the world's most influential customer management organizations, and his work with B2B and B2C organizations in the private and public sectors.The author's down-to-earth explanations cut through jargon and clutter, while stories and examples bring important principles to life. Leading the Customer Experience is relatable to anyone leading, managing or aspiring to better understand customer experience.

In a typical day, a customer's journey moves from a physical to a digital environment multiple times, to successfully and effectively manage a customer's experience organizations need to integrate both these environments in an omnichannel way. This edited book examines customer journeys, omnichannel retailing, digital and mobile marketing, augmented and virtual reality, gamification, artificial intelligence in marketing, blockchain applications and more to provide theoretical and practical methods of impact for businesses. The book provides insights for researchers and practitioners in the areas of marketing, digitalisation, service operations, management, communication, administrative sciences and more. The chapters intersect methodology, research, theory and applications all along the customer journey and customer touchpoints through digital and physical environments. Increasing technological developments and the wider integration of the Internet of Things will make the need for smooth omnichannel management for customers and consumers ever more important for organizations and a key factor of successful business strategy.

New customer technology environments are magical worlds. With the rise of virtual reality, augmented reality, the internet of things and more, customers are more engaged, more involved, and easier to reach than ever ; while being inundated with increasing amounts of marketing material. How can you market effectively using these new CTEs? Providing an accessible description of these new, emerging technologies, along with novel frameworks with which to apply them, marketing expert Devanathan Sudharshan offers a straightforward guide to leveraging CTEs. Laden with examples to make the discussion vivid for readers and excite their imaginations, Sudharshan covers decision making in CTEs, mixed reality technologies and enabling technologies. CTEs are still emerging, and their business impact is yet to be measured. This exciting investigative text offers students, practitioners and researchers the chance to learn about these technologies, see the possibilities of their impacts, and their growing applications for the world.

Having a customer-centric business model has evolved from being a nice-to-have to a must-have for any organization. A focus on products and services alone is no longer enough to outstrip the competition. In the current digital ecosystem, consumers can instantly compare products, prices and services with the touch of a button from the comfort of their home. Therefore, every organization must now focus on their overall customer experience to achieve the tricky but imperative balance between efficiency and personalization. In The Power of Customer Experience, Martin Newman presents clear data that proves the direct link between customer-centricity with profit and shareholder value. Drawing on examples from well-known companies like JD Sports, Delta Airlines, Lego, Selfridges, BMW, Hilton, Deliveroo and Uber, it analyses how organizations provide the most effective customer experience, and reveals the strategies that have allowed them to succeed. Featuring tips and tools throughout, it will enable readers to understand the impact of customer centricity on some of the best known brands, to gain invaluable insights that can be used to grow emerging brands and revitalize existing brands.