Customers For Life: How To Turn That One-Time Buyer Into a Lifetime Customer (Paperback)

by Carl Sewell (Author), Paul B. Brown (Author) "We don't assume anything..." (more)
Key Phrases: free loan cars, ioo cars, service adviser, Sewell Village, Neiman Marcus, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Stanley Marcus If you don't learn from this book, it's your fault. -- Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
In this completely revised and updated edition of the customer service classic (more than 600,000 copies sold), Carl Sewell enhances his time-tested advice with fresh ideas and new examples and explains how the groundbreaking “Ten Commandments of Customer Service” apply to today’s world.

Drawing on his incredible success in transforming his Dallas Cadillac dealership into the second largest in America, Carl Sewell revealed the secret of getting customers to return again and again in the original Customers for Life. A lively, down-to-earth narrative, it set the standard for customer service excellence and became a perennial bestseller. Building on that solid foundation, this expanded edition features five completely new chapters, as well as significant additions to the original material, based on the lessons Sewell has learned over the last ten years.

Sewell focuses on the expectations and demands of contemporary consumers and employees, showing that businesses can remain committed to quality service in the fast-paced new millennium by sticking to his time-proven approach: Figure out what customers want and make sure they get it. His “Ten Commandants” provide the essential guidelines, including:

• Underpromise, overdeliver: Never disappoint your customers by charging them more than they planned. Always beat your
estimate or throw in an extra service free of charge

• No complaints? Something’s wrong: If you never ask your customers what else they want, how are you going to give it to them?

• Measure everything: Telling your employees to do their best won’t work if you don’t know how they can improve

• Borrow, borrow, borrow: Sewell, for example, learned about hospitality from Japanese culture, cleanliness from Disney, and
politeness from his mother.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Broadway Business; Revised edition (November 19, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385504454
• ISBN-13: 978-0385504454
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,309 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for every business owner, May 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Customers For Life: How To Turn That One Time Buyer Into A Lifelong Customer (Paperback)

None of the ideas in this book are ground breaking, but the author does a great job of explaining how they translate into loyal customers for your business. There is no abstract psychological babbling lots of similar books have. The author clearly shows the reader what his points are, then uses case studies from both his business and others to reinforce the concepts.

Every business owner should have this book, and I'd recommend buying copies for all the employees as well. It will pay off in the long run.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Customer Service Book yet!, October 26, 2005

By	Marc Hines (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Sewell really practices what he preaches.

I had made a visit to two of his dealerships in Dallas; after seeing his operation I HAD to read his book. Both his customers and his employees are fanatically loyal - for good reason.

Carl's view of customer service is very different; in fact he does not have (or need) a 'customer service' department. Instead they create systems to avoid problems in the first place, and each employee (associate, really) is empowered to solve the few problems that do come up on their own.

It's an easy read and a real eye opener.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Bible" of my Business, December 8, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Customers For Life: How To Turn That One Time Buyer Into A Lifelong Customer (Paperback)

My wife gave me her copy of "Customers For Life" that she had received a corporate retreat. When I first considered opening a gentlemen's club I pulled it off the shelf hoping to find a few useful "tidbits." This book completely changed my concept of customers and business success. In 3 short months of operation I have put a substantial dent into a highly competeitive market using Mr. Sewell's approach to servicing his customers. As a condition of employment with my company, everyone from waitresses and doorman to my general managers must read this book and attend weekly meetings to discuss how to apply it's principals at my place of business. The only business book I can honestly say is worth its wait in gold.