Customer Reviews

Priceless: Turning Ordinary Products into Extraordinary Experiences

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

MasterCard commercials effectively dramatize a distinction between the cost and the value of human experience. In essence, this is what LaSalle and Britton have in mind when explaining in their brilliant book how to turn ?ordinary products into extraordinary experiences? for consumers. They organize their material within two separate but related sections: in the first, they examine the interaction of customers, value, and experience; in the second, they explain how almost any company can prosper in what James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II characterize as ?the experience economy,? in their book so entitled. But HOW? By offering a product or service which, according to LaSalle and Britton, fills a consumer?s need for freedom, adventure, and a sense of well-being. My own rather extensive background includes market research on what consumers value most. Those surveyed ranked ?feeling appreciated,? ETDBW (i.e. easy to do business with), and enjoying the experience were ranked highest. Those responses are consistent with what LaSalle and Britton have learned. What astonishes me (and perhaps them as well) is that only recently has the importance of sensory experience been recognized, relative to purchase decisions and to consumer perceptions of those from whom their purchases are made.

Bernd Schmitt and Alex Simonson?s Experiential Marketing: How to Get Customers to Sense, Feel,, Think, Act, and Relate to Your Company and Brands was first published in 1999. In it, they examine a number of different companies (e.g. Nokia, Procter & Gamble, Apple Computer, Volkswagen, Siemens, Martha Stewart Living, and SONY) which demonstrate the fundamental principles of what they call ?experiential marketing.? They were praised as pioneer thinkers (which I certainly do not dispute) when, in Part Two of their book, they focus on what they call Strategic Experiential Modules (SEMs), each of which has its own distinct structures and principles which must be understood by each manager. SEMs include sensory experiences (SENSE), affective experiences (FEEL), creative cognitive experiences (THINK), physical experiences and entire lifestyles (ACT), and social-identity experiences (RELATE). Schmitt and examine each, explaining how to achieve the effective integration of all four.

LaSalle and Britton share my high regard for Gilmore and Pine as well as for Schmitt and Simonson (among others) but break critically important new ground in Priceless by providing a cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective system by which almost any company can increase and enhance the appeal of almost any product or service. More specifically, LaSalle and Britton identify and then explain a series of interdependent components throughout Chapters 1-6 which comprise what they call the ?Priceless Roadmap.? By the end of their book, they have enabled their reader to understand the relationship between value and experience (including emotional as well as sensory experience) by showing the link between them and customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and (most preferable of all) customer evangelism. They trace the series of events which a customer experiences during the consumption process. Most important of all, with precision and clarity, they demonstrate how a company can deliver value through experience by focusing on three key attributes: product, service, and environment.

It would be a mistake to assume that this book was written primarily (if not exclusively) for marketing executives. Every value, principle, strategy, and tactic which LaSalle and Britton examine is directly relevant, for example, to increasing and enhancing the appeal of any workplace and to strengthening relationships between and among those within it. I also think this book will be of substantial value to senior-level executives as they embark on mid-range and long-term planning (i.e. up to 36 months at the most) because organizations as well as consumer products and services, and indeed individuals, can achieve greatness only if guided and informed by a ?Priceless Roadmap? in one form or another.

Everyone talks about experience, but few have been able to explain how to create customer experiences that make a difference to the bottom line. LaSalle and Britton have solved the mystery. The secret, according to them is well defined and communicated value surrounded by exceptional experiences. They make their case with clearly explained and supported theory and then follow it up with elegant frameworks to both determine value and identify and score each customer experience. Unlike many business books, it's easy to see how what they present can actually work in the real world.

If I were to find fault with the book, I'd have to say there is a marked lack of negative examples and sometimes failure is a powerful teacher. It is also a puzzle to me why it is promoted as a marketing book when it clearly has strategic value far beyond marketing. Regardless of these minor flaws, I think Priceless has value for all areas of business, and to quote Donald O. Clifton, Chairman of Gallup International from the book jacket "Ours will not only be a more productive world, but also a better one for those who take these tools to heart and apply them. I wish everyone would read Priceless." I agree.

Any book that can provide you with one insight is worth whatever the author wants in exhange - and that is in part the core value of this book.

The authors formalise the need to reduce the Why people purchase a product down to the core value the buyer perceives - the first or second given reason is often not the case and the reality is often more about personal irrationality (who needs a Porsche yet they sell the annual production at full price) rather than reasons that can be easily tabulated. Too much marketing is written about these top level issues and miss what this book identifies.

However, while many of their examples appear relevant to the point they are making, they focus on the good fit between the idea (easy to install new computer) and that these were (for the moment) winning ideas, and leave the exploration of the lower level value out of their analysis, the one thing they stress in the best part (the first two) chapters of the book.

One very good item is where they provide details of their personal contact details to encourage feedback - you do not see that often enough. Another is telling about failures with all the details, some consultants tell you the names of their successes but talk about the failures (and then only of others) in only the general.

I would suggest you puchase this book - it is not the definitive platform (that say Porter's Competitive Advantage is) about creating value; it does raise and examine relevant issues in creating value, particularly for service industries.

For those who think that Value is just about structuring a good financial deal, Priceless by LaSalle & Britton will open your eyes to a wealth of new areas for consideration. I found this book to be very useful and delightfully well written with good examples and checklists throughout. It's an excellent catalyst to broaden the thinking on how to improve the value of a product or service.

In my humble opinion, this book can be highlighted by one single sentence on page 27, "When is a banana not a banana?"

With tons of examples, a few frameworks and six so called "Priceless Roadmaps" in the end of six chapters, the authors elaborate well the importance and means of making the transition from merely selling goods or services to delivering "Value Experience". Definitely worths your time and its price. Nevertheless, it can be even better if the authors had sought the professional advice of some editors to rearrange it into a more readable and organised way, say, summarizing the currently very piecemeal frameworks with more charts, figures and graphs.

This is the most valuable business book I've read in years.
There have been books on value and books on experience, but
this is the first one that connects the dots. What's more
it's understandable. I'm giving Priceless to all my
marketing clients so they can better understand the
recommendations I make and hopefully they'll put the
customer-centric concepts to work in other areas of their
companies.

Unlike most books that stretch out one idea for 200-300 pages, every chapter in Priceless provides powerful tools that you can take away and use to improve the customer experience. This is a must read book for any company that wants to move their product or service from ordinary to extraordinary. It is both an informative and enjoyable read with real life examples of companies that have put these principles in action.

Priceless captures the next leap business leaders need to consider and then act upon! The concepts can be applied universally. The key is to apply the strategy BEFORE and better than your competitor. The application can be used with our internal customers just as effectively. In fact, if it is used inside, the results will surely impact the external customer in a very positive manner.

Interesting to think of the ways to apply ... Thanks.

Quite disappointed. Nothing new. Recommend "How customers think" and "clued in" instead of this one.

This book has no insight and the content is obvious. Seems like a collection of easy to read magazine business articles. May be interesting for people looking for an introduction to marketing.