Inspire!: Why Customers Come Back [Hardcover]

Jim Champy (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0131361880 | ISBN-13: 978-0131361881 | Publication Date: April 6, 2009 | Edition: 1

8 POWERFUL WAYS TO INSPIRE TODAY’S TOUGH CUSTOMERS IN TOUGH TIMES AND MAKE THEM STICK!

 

“With Jim Champy’s well-proven gift for keen management analysis, today’s essential notions of business transparency, channel and customer alignment, and enduring cultural values become palpable, memorable, and–most important–usable.”

Alan Spoon, Managing General Partner, Polaris Venture Partners

 

“If you love the game of business, you’d be hard pressed to find a book with more ‘good moves’ per page than INSPIRE!”

Paal Gisholt, President and CEO, SmartPak

 

“Full of insightful ideas, this book is for those who like winning, who embrace innovation, and who wish to transform how they lead. It is not for the defenders of the status quo.”

Michael Dowling, President and CEO, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System

 

“INSPIRE! provides ‘food for thought’ and insightful guidance for all companies. This is particularly important in today’s economy where even established companies are looking for ways to maintain the growth they have enjoyed in better times.”

Chiquita White, Section Head, Product Development, Procter & Gamble

 

Jim Champy revolutionized business with Reengineering the Corporation. Now, in Inspire!, the second book in a series about what’s new and really works in business, he takes on the challenge of inspiring customers—even in tough times. In an era of commoditization and ever less loyal customers, this book shows how to keep customers coming back.

 

Drawing on dozens of original case studies from companies in a variety of industries, new and old, Champy reveals how to define a consistent value proposition your customers will be passionate about—and will stay passionate about. You’ll learn how to engage a new generation of customers who value transparency and authenticity above all...how to reinvigorate your company in the face of brutally tough and creative competition...how to go beyond mere marketing campaigns to lead crusades customers want to join.

 

Once again, Jim Champy has given businesses actionable solutions to one of the most challenging problems they currently face: making customers stick.

 

How to reignite customer loyalty by…

•   Bringing authenticity to everything you do

•   Creating new products that reflect the best of what you really are

•   Delivering new value based on convenience, simplicity, and honesty

•   Nurturing your mystique

•   Choosing the right channel partners

•   Doing well by doing good

 

Want more? Check out the e-book collection, Jim Champy on What's Really Working in Business.  This brand new collection contains state-of-the-art business insights from world-renowned expert Jim Champy…now in a convenient e-format, at a great price!

 

 

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Wall Street Journal Bestseller - Hardcover Business

 

From The Wall Street Journal

 

“It is well worth forgetting financial misbehavior for a moment and recalling that great economies are built not on credit derivative swaps but on the energy of entrepreneurs. Jim Champy's short, peppy "Inspire!" contains seven stories of businesses that have thrived in the shadow of large competitors by doing what big companies so often fail to do: actually bothering to please the people who buy their products and services.”

About the Author

Jim Champy is one of the leading management and business thinkers of our time. His first best seller, Reengineering the Corporation, remains the bible for executing process change. His second book, Reengineering Management, another best seller, was recognized by Business Week as one of the most important books of its time. Champy’s latest book, OUTSMART!, shows how to achieve breakthrough growth by consistently outsmarting your competition by identifying six powerful new ways to compete in even the toughest marketplace.

 

Champy is also an experienced manager and advisor. He is currently the Chairman of Consulting for Perot Systems. He speaks and writes with the authority of real business experience and brings pragmatism to the world of business. In this new series of books, Champy looks at what’s working today for high-growth businesses. Champy observes that there is not much new in management, but there is a lot new in business--and a lot to learn from what’s new.

 

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (April 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131361880
• ISBN-13: 978-0131361881
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #871,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Customer acquisition and retention through natural selection, April 18, 2009

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inspire!: Why Customers Come Back (Hardcover)

Those who read Jim Champy's previous book, Outsmart!, know that in it he drew metaphorically from Charles Darwin's theories of survival that are, and I quote, "Species always breed beyond available resources," "Those species with favorable variations have a greater chance of survival and pass on their variations to their offspring," and "Adapted species force out weaker ones, producing whole new species." These theories help us to understand the strategies of successful, fast-growing organizations. "Inspire! Picks up where Outsmart! leaves off, showing how these kinds of organizations have been able to increase their market share." In it he explains why customers come back to businesses that know how to deliver on their promises. "That is why the next book in the series will focus on how companies achieve true operational excellence. Like Outsmart! and Inspire!, it will have a simple, direct title: Deliver! That's because delivering is what every successful business does every day, in good times and bad."

Customer "satisfaction" is based on a single transaction and customer "loyalty" will continue from one transaction to the next only so long as each is satisfactory. Presumably Champy agrees with Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba that the objective should be to create customer evangelists who will not only "come back" but also bring others with them and, whenever possible and appropriate, function as an extended sales force. What will inspire customers to become evangelists? Champy suggests eight factors and devotes a separate chapter to each. Here are the first three:

1. Engage customers with a cause that will enable them "to identify with your mission and will happily pray a premium for the emotional connection they get from supporting it."

2. "An engagement strategy of convenience requires a deep understanding of how your product or service will fill a customer need. And what works for one group of customers might not work for another."

3. "Most companies don't [but should] give enough thought to their market channels and channel partners, and how those partners can enhance a customer experience."

The other five factors are simplifying complexity (as Albert Einstein once suggested, "Make everything as simple as possible...but no simpler."); being completely honest (i.e. authentic in that, what is affirmed and what is done are seamlessly consistent); interact with your company the same way your the customer does (i.e. "being your own customer"); balance enthusiasm with reality and, as Jason Jennings suggests, "nail the fundamentals" every time; and finally, re-energize product mix with unusual combinations (e.g. "cool and sport") that surprise and delight. In each chapter, Chapter provides a reader-friendly section, "Rules of Engagement," that I really appreciate. It consolidates specific considerations and suggestions for each of the eight factors. In the final chapter, for example, "What Could Be More Inspiring than the Melding of Cool and Sport?," six rules are provided and then briefly discussed: (1) Build on your past, (2) Don't try to go head-to-head with entrenched market leaders, (3) Use outsiders to challenge insiders, (4) Follow a well-marked highway but also test side roads now, (5) If you're the underdog play it up, and (6) Keep your edge authentic. Comparable rules are also provided near the conclusion each of the previous seven chapters. This reader-friendly device will facilitate, indeed accelerate review of key points later.

I am fascinated by the development of Champy's thinking about business process transformation since the appearance in 1993 of Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution that he co-authored with Michael Hammer and then Reengineering Management: The Mandate for New Leadership three years later. I am among those who had then -- and still have -- reservations and concerns about any change initiative "systems" and methodologies that do not focus primarily on those responsible for their effectiveness. In his more recently published books, Champy seems to have become much more people-centered. (The same can also be said of Michael Hammer and Gary Hamel.) In Outsmart! And then in Inspire!, for example, Champy immediately establishes a personal rapport with his reader. The tone throughout both books is informal, almost conversational. "Here's what I think you need to consider. Now let's take a closer look. And as we proceed together, be sure to keep an eye open for...." This approach is especially appropriate in a book that offers information and advice about establishing and strengthening relationships with customers and channel partners, viewing them and treating them as valued human beings rather than as segments of an organizational equation.

Well-done!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Authenticity in action, June 7, 2009

By 

Wm. Caleb McCann - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inspire!: Why Customers Come Back (Hardcover)

Jim Champy's latest book, Inspire!, is a highly valuable read for business leaders, providing actionable examples of what it takes to keep customers continually engaged and excited in their relationships with businesses. Arguably, this is the most important aspect of business at any level. The book provides clear, concise lessons that can be applied readily to any organization, regardless of size or kind. Many of these lessons focus on internal company cultural attributes such as "risk calmly accepted as necessity" and "innovation viewed as everyone's business".

A refreshing theme of Inspire! is communicated "authenticity", the quality and characteristic of being honest with customers and stakeholders. According to Mr. Champy, it "illuminates a company's sense of purpose". Mr. Champy's advocacy of corporate authenticity is actionable and provides clarity for contemporary managers who can take advantage of seemingly endless opportunities for success in today's global economy by being honest with customers and themselves. An appealing aspect of the authenticity theme in Inspire! is that it provides actionable examples of business success achieved through integrity from notable companies, such as Stoneyfield Farm, Zip Car, Go Daddy and Honest Tea, among others.

One striking aspect of Inspire! is the learning derived from it does not depend on any economic or business trend. Mr. Champy's thoughtful journey into reigniting and maintaining customer loyalty is as applicable in a recession as it is in a booming economy. The lack of trend-chasing concepts makes Inspire! a book that will be relevant for years to come. You will want to reread this book periodically as new economic and business cycles evolve.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Yes! and No! for Inpsire from J. Champy, June 25, 2009

By 

Vitek Filip - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Inspire!: Why Customers Come Back (Hardcover)

Those who have read the first piece of this recent "series" by Jim Champy will definitely like this one, too. Or will they ?

The book is cut into several easy to read and one-per-my-commute-to-work stories of interesting companies. However, the biggest praise goes from my side on picking the companies. The way that stories are narrated gets a bit worn-off after third or fourth piece.

What I hate about the book that it caught Champy red-handed in difficulty to write a full-pledged book. Part of the text that repeats in huge print few paragraphs later just to consume the space makes my heart jump and really makes me think if there is so little to say/write. The books are small and easy to read through, but after all it creates image that author struggles to make the book long enough to be published at all. If you still don't get the argument, check for the font size of "Reengineering" and you would find "Inspire!" almost a waste of paper space. Will Greenpeace sue Champy for that ?

To sum it up: Thumb-up for the stories, neutral about the way the stories are narrated. Lay-out and scarcity of words on each of the companies and their recycling becomes annoying.