Voices into Choices: Acting on the Voice of the Customer [Hardcover]

Christina H. Brodie (Author), Gary Burchill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1997

A groundbreaking how-to resource that addresses the gap between having your customers' voices, and being able to translate their voices into tangible results. Readers will learn how to engage in a process of getting to know their customers and learning their point of view so they can responsibly take action based on their customers' preferences, align the organization around the new insight they have acquired, gain buy-in for the resulting initiatives, and make the outcome of the initiative more successful. Voices into Choices captures the right balance between being a step-by-step method and offering the theoretical framework to understanding and using customer voices.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Voices into Choices was written and published through a collaboration between Joiner Associates Incorporated and the Center for Quality of Management (CQM). The book is an outgrowth of CQM working with its member organizations to help them become more customer focused in their decision making process. Throughout the development of Voices into Choices, we worked with these members to refine the process, by having them use and test our writing with their actual projects. We also involved numerous customers from both organizations in a review process.

From the Back Cover

Voices into Choices will help you make sound, confident decisions that fulfill your customers' needs. "This book is an exceptionally comprehensive, step-by-step guide to incorporating the Voice of the Customer into the decision-making process of designing products or services. We have used the FOCUS process to guide the design of a consolidated and integrated pharmacy service across our six hospitals and associated ambulatory sites." Jack Cook, President and CEO, Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati "Voices into Choices distills and integrates a profound understanding of the best tools and methods for conducting Voice of the Customer inquiries and describes step-by-step process and practical guidelines for taking action and getting useful results. Richly illustrated with actual case studies, this text will surely become a useful and widely used handbook by practitioners committed to improving their organizations' performance." Ray Stata, Chairman, Analog Devices, Inc. "As the saying goes, 'The customer is always right,' and businesses that are in tune with their customers have reaped the benefits. Voices into Choices: Acting on the Voice of the Customer outlines the innovative five-step FOCUS process for using customer feedback to effect positive change within an organization. Replete with case studies showing the FOCUS process in action, Voices into Choices is a helpful guide to businessor governments, for that matteras they make the informed decisions necessary to stay competitive." William F. Weld.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Joiner Assoc; 1st edition (July 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884731139
• ISBN-13: 978-1884731136
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #744,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Customer Voices will change your business life - REALLLY!, February 12, 2000

By 

Jim Donovan (Cincinnati, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Voices into Choices: Acting on the Voice of the Customer (Hardcover)

As a Research Fellow with the Procter & Gamble I purchased over 200 copies of this to provide a training framework for our people in Product Development positions worldwide who have responsibilities for understanding, and more importantly effectively translating the consumer's desires into breakthrough products. This 'manual' demystifies this very human process in exciting -not boring- formats. The processes described are those that were once only understood by a limited number of professionals. Voices into Choices makes listening, gathering, digesting, and communicating consumer needs a fundamental new skill that can be learned and mastered by an infinite range of businesses, profit and non-profit.

I have used the skills learned to map needs for several new, global P&G products, and at the same time used it for my church long-range planning process. These are core skills that seem boundless; only limited by the imagination of the person who has learned them.

Although I have recently retired from P&G, it will stay as a primer that I will continue to use my consulting business.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical, Self Explanatory and Impactful, August 26, 2002

By 

Robert Williams (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Voices into Choices: Acting on the Voice of the Customer (Hardcover)

This book captures a process we relied on heavily at McKinsey and Co. It is a step by step guide to helping project teams understand, interpret and act upon the customers' needs. This book is helpful to anyone running a project - whether it is an internal or external project. As the president of a large business, I am ready to buy this book for my entire staff. I would be thrilled if my employees ran projects in this manner and streamlined their communication with me. One of the most useful books I have read in the last five years and hopefully one that my staff will quickly adopt as their process they use to manage.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must reading to turn "Voices into Choices", October 11, 1999

By 

Mark Panzer (Minneapolis MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Voices into Choices: Acting on the Voice of the Customer (Hardcover)

The Voice of the Customer is an emerging discipline in global business today. "Voices into Choices" is one of the best text I have read on the subject of how to go about obtaining, analyzing and turning customer data into innovative solutions. The book is laid out in easy to follow chapters that takes you through a simple step by step process. Each chapter starts out with a one page summary of that particular step. Additionally this page is very useful to go back to as a review. At the end of each chapter is a checklist that enables you to make sure you are ready to move onto the next step. The book is conveniently wire bound to keep it open to the page you need. If you are interested in optimizing your customer research, this book is for you.