Customer Mania! It's Never Too Late to Build a Customer-Focused Company [Hardcover]

Kenneth Blanchard (Author), Jim Ballard (Contributor), Fred Finch (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2, 2004

Customer service is the single most pressing problem for business managers and people in any service or sales operation, especially at the retail level. In fact, many experts believe that you build a business from the customer up. In Customer Mania!, Ken Blanchard, one of America's biggest bestselling authors and inspiring business leaders, writes of the key to customer service -- creating a people-oriented, performance-driven, customer-first organization. Along with coauthors Jim Ballard and Fred Finch, Blanchard explains why the customer is the right starting place from which to build a successful business. By drawing on examples from the world's largest restaurant company, Yum! -- owner of KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Long John Silver's, and A&W Restaurants -- the authors explain how any company, large or small, can develop a unified, people-first, customer-oriented culture. Packed with practical insights, Customer Mania! emphasizes four critical steps:

• Set Your Sights on the Right Target. The bottom line grows from taking care of customers and creating a motivating environment for your people.

• Treat Customers the Right Way. Determine the kind of experience you want your customers to have as they interact with every part of the company.

• Treat Employees the Right Way. Use strategies ranging from smart hiring to training and development to managing performance and creating a recognition culture.

• Build the Right Kind of Leadership. You can't do it all yourself, so let your people put their own brains to work and then support them all the way.

By relying on these concepts, businesses everywhere can cultivate passionate and engaged team members who contribute to the company's overall success. From CEO to middle manager to the person facing the consumer, Customer Mania! is a vital tool for enhancing their experience -- and their customer's.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Self-described "Chief Spiritual Officer" Blanchard strikes a familiar note of ebullient optimism in this follow up to his bestsellers The One-Minute Manager, Whale Done and Raving Fans! This time the business populist chronicles the efforts of Yum! brands to build a customer-focused corporate culture. As the corporate parent of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, A&W and Long John Silver, Yum! operates in an industry where a 200% annual turnover rate is normal. So the company’s own 40% annual turnover rate is exceptional, and its creation of a positive employee culture is no mean feat. Thus, Yum!’s survival in the fast food business—which relies heavily on the public’s contact with its front line employees—provides useful lessons for any manager whose business depends upon customer satisfaction. Unfortunately, however, Blanchard’s book fails to step back and address its subject objectively. Instead, the narrative reads like a spiritual revival meeting, making it difficult to separate the practical advances from the author’s hype. Has all the feel-good hoopla created higher profits? Deflected competition? Raised share prices? Failures, negativity and cynicism don’t find their way into this book. They are swiftly eliminated, just like people with the wrong attitude at Yum!
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Customer Mania is the finest distillation of Ken Blanchard's wisdom, convictions, and possibility thinking to date. What inspired me most was the journey from possibilities to reality and that he validated the fundamental truths - that it can happen and it is never too late to start!" Tami Heim, former president of Borders, Inc. "Anyone in a customer-focused business really MUST read this book! It is somehow simple, powerful, actionable, compelling and immensely readable all at once. I'll never provide - or receive - service the same way again. In fact, I'll carry a copy with me and give it to people whenever I experience underwhelming service." Patrick Lencioni, bestselling author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team "In the long history of management writing, no one has so clearly and memorably extracted, exposed, illustrated and explained the essentials of enlightened and profitable management as Ken Blanchard. Now he, with Jim Ballard and Fred Finch, offers us the ultimate customer service book, 'Customer Mania!' The title is a dead give away of the passionate and persuasive argument contained in these pages. Bravo!" Tom Peters "This book gets to the bottom line fast: If you don't take care of your customers, somebody else will. Do what I did, and order a copy of this book for every one of your employees and have them memorize the 4 critical steps to creating Customer Mania! This book shows you how to make your customers so happy that you'll be laughing all the way to the bank." Robert Allen, author of Nothing Down for the 2000s --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (November 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743270282
• ISBN-13: 978-0743270281
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #307,242 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Few people have influenced the day-to-day management of people and companies more than Ken Blanchard. A prominent, sought-after author, speaker, and business consultant, Dr. Blanchard is universally characterized by his friends, colleagues, and clients as one of the most insightful, powerful, and compassionate individuals in business today. Ken is one of the most influential leadership experts in the world and is respected for his years of groundbreaking work in the fields of leadership and management.

Dr. Ken Blanchard is the cofounder and Chief Spiritual Officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies, an international management training and consulting firm that he and his wife, Margie Blanchard, began in 1979 in San Diego, California. In addition to being a renowned speaker and consultant, Ken also spends time as a visiting lecturer at his alma mater, Cornell University, where he is a trustee emeritus of the Board of Trustees.

Ken has received many awards and honors for his contributions in the fields of management, leadership, and speaking. The National Speakers Association awarded him its highest honor, the "Council of Peers Award of Excellence." He was inducted into the HRD Hall of Fame by Training magazine and Lakewood Conferences, and he received the Golden Gavel Award from Toastmasters International. Ken also received The Thought Leadership Award for continued support of work-related learning and performance by ISA--The Association of Learning Providers. Ken has been inducted into Amazon's Hall of Fame as one of the top 25 best-selling authors of all time. The business school at Grand Canyon University bears his name. In addition, Ken teaches students in the Master of Science in Executive Leadership Program at the University of San Diego.

Born in New Jersey and raised in New York, Ken received a master's degree from Colgate University, and a bachelor's and PhD from Cornell University. An avid golfer, Ken belongs to the Loch Lomond Golf Club in Scotland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This should be called "The CEO's Bible", August 23, 2005

By 

Teresa "Teresa White" (Louisville, Ky United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Customer Mania! It's Never Too Late to Build a Customer-Focused Company (Hardcover)

I had worked for YUM! for 4 days when I went to my first Founder's Day celebration -the day that Ken Blanchard and David Novak (YUM! CEO) gave out these books. I didn't know what to think! The environment was SO different from what I was used to. Why were these people standing on chairs, hooting and yelling, cheering and clapping and having FUN at a biyearly meeting? How did they get so many people to volunteer to speak in front of a 3000+ crowd, when most meetings of under 20 you hardly ever get anyone to speak up?

I took the book home and read it cover to cover, trying to figure out what Customer Mania was and how do I become a Customer Maniac? I have worked in customer service for years, and the answer was simple: Do it right, and do it right the first time, because you WANT to. Things I had wanted to do under other bosses to help my customers get what they need and want, but was afraid to, because the Boss wouldn't understand or it would cost too much, or take too much time, or wasn't our department. At YUM! there is no such thing as "not my department". If that is a customer who needs your help, then that customer IS your department.

The book gives great anecdotes to illustrate his point in an easy to read, easy to understand manner. You feel as though Mr. Blanchard were sitting across from you talking to you in person. YUM! has a ways to go in really winning over its customer base, in assuring the customer that YUM! will be there no matter what to make sure they have a great experience in one of their restarants, but we are getting there.

And the marching band walking through the building to recognize outstanding employees? It's true.

Every CEO of every company should read this. The things that YUM! does to recognize its employees for a job well done on a daily basis doesn't add up to much in terms of time or money, but the return on that investment is phenomenal. Even as an entry level employee, I know that David Novak cares about the work I do and every day I give 210%, KNOWING that my leadership sees it and appreciates it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read! Highly recommended., July 4, 2010

By 

Robyns (Washington, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Customer Mania! It's Never Too Late to Build a Customer-Focused Company (Hardcover)

Customer Mania! is a very motivational book with some great ideas focusing on people, taking care of your employees, recognizing employees, and ultimately providing the best in customer service day in and day out. The ideas in this book can be applied to any industry. Highly recommended.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another good book from Blanchard, October 29, 2006

By 

Integrity Trainer (Northbrook, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Customer Mania! It's Never Too Late to Build a Customer-Focused Company (Hardcover)

This is an easy to read book with leadership principles for people in all levels of leadership.