Raving Fans : A Revolutionary Approach

Customer service is the most important aspect of any business. Without an adequate relationship with its consumer base, a company is at an enormous disadvantage.

I chose to read and review was Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles. Raving Fans begins with a recently promoted Area Manager familiarizing himself with his new office while his mind races with his thoughts of the recent conversation he has just had with the president of his corporation. As the new Area Manager he is struggling to wrap his mind around the concept of customer satisfaction. As he is steadily thinking his fairy Godmother, Charlie shows up. The recently promoted Area Manager and Charlie leave the office and Charlie makes the suggestion to go play golf. After the round of golf, Charlie takes the newly promoted Area Manager to meet Leo and Leo reveals the first secret

This makes it an important skill to be able to see what they really mean. For example, if a customer is silent, it is important you recognize it and start to ask more sincere questions so that the customer opens up, and informs you what they want. The third and final secret to creating raving fans is learned from Andrew, the manager of a chain of gas stations. The secret is “discover what the customer wants – deliver plus one”. This means that it's important to always deliver, no matter what. Consistency is the key. The "plus one" part refers to slowly improving your service so that it’s easy to stay consistent. There's no point in trying to deliver a service that is too big to consistently be there. If you improve by one percent per week, it will make a huge difference after only a year. Customers will become a raving fan if they know they can come back and count on the same great service.

The newly appointed General Manger that was set to run the grand opening and the entire hotel operation in DC was James McBride. Upon taking the job, McBride was faced with pressures from Millennium concerning Ritz-Carlton’s employee training methods for the hotel’s grand opening. Millennium’s main reason for concern was that the seven-day training process might not be enough time to train their employees for the grand opening. They were also upset that to make up for short training program, Ritz-Carlton would limit the occupancy rate to 50% for the first few months. In other words, they were worried about a loss of revenue from the three to five month adjustment period The Ritz gives its employees to build confidence.

In October of 2005 REI took a progressive step to enhance their already impressive employee benefit package. Treating their employees generously has proven to be a successful business model for REI. The idea was to ensure that the quality of their customer service is at its highest level. REI maintains that keeping employees satisfied will pay off in the long run, “The underlying assumption of total quality management is that if you do things right the first time you will reduce rework, scrap, wasted time, and cost, and thereby increase productivity.” (Neal, Tromley, Lopez, Russell, p. 42). The climate of a REI outlet and the customer service of their staff has always been very high. In an effort to continue to lead the industry in employee

As you may know customer service plays a key role in running a successful business and as a Lead Cashier and Trainer for seven years at Coastal Farm I had the privilege of gaining a variety of experiences both internally and externally. As the Lead Cashier and Trainer I strived to express the importance of customer service and provide my team with the proper knowledge and tools to ensure we were going above and beyond for our customers. Whether I left a sticky note on their desktops with a phrase such as “be the reason someone smiles today,” or asked them if they have ever had a bad experience at a business and what they learned from that experience to keep that in mind while serving their customers, my end goal was for my team to recognize

The book Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles is written in parable style which teaches the average person the importance of providing customer service and implementing effective systems to create “Raving Fans” a basic requirement. A raving fan is a customer who is extremely satisfied with the level of service they receive that they can’t help but tell everyone about it.

Good customer service is the foundation of a cohesive, well run business; good customer service is tailored around the needs and wants of the consumer. Providing a level of service like this means paying attention to the customers needs and wants and delivering the product and service in a manner that makes ordering procedure as simple as it can be, doing this acts as a catalyst for profit in that it entices customers to return meaning they will know your product and save money in marketing and advertising (Hurlbert W., 2007) and spread the brand awareness and attract new customers through friends.

Customer loyalty is much harder to obtain that customer service satisfaction. The most important first step is to satisfy the customer by meeting their expectations. Customers only give a company one chance and if they aren’t satisfied they will not do business with that company again, as well as tell others of their experience. The next step would be to exceed the customer’s expectations. If a business goes above and beyond to assist the customer they begin to build loyalty. The next step is to truly surprise the customer. In order to dominate the marketplace the company must find a way to make them selves stand out with their product or service, accompanied with phenomenal customer service. Once this has been done customer satisfaction and loyalty will be gained. “Acquiring a new customer can cost four or five times more than keeping a current customer” (Bestmark, 2013). So it’s essential to keep the current customer’s happy and coming back for more.

The critical factors in the successful transformation of British Airways were changing the culture of the organization for the employees and the consumers. British Airways embarked on an aggressive media campaign that helped change the “face” of the airline. Their new tag line was “The worlds favourite airline”. Customer service became the number one priority for all employees. Lead by Colin Marshall, “an enabling culture (was put) in place to allow customer service to come out, where rather than people waiting to be told what to do to do things better, it’s an environment where people feel they can actually come out with ideas, that they will be listened to, and feel they are much more a part of the success of the company” Jick (2011)(p.30). A “Putting People First” (PFF) program was instituted for all front line employees. This helped to unify the employees with the new vision of customer service first for the company. During these two day mandatory meetings, all front line staff interacted with all levels of managers and leaders on an even playing

Today’s organizations fail to realize the value of their customers when it comes to the success of their business. Without customer loyalty the success of your business will always be uncertain. Organizations must sensitively tailor the designs of a successful firm to the particular challenges of understanding, attracting, and keeping valuable customers. “Having satisfied customers just aren’t good enough”. Kenneth Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles, co-authors of Raving Fans, believe this concept is needed to have a successful business. I agree with this concept of customers being the focal point of any business. I would want more than just a satisfied customer; I want a “Raving Fan”.

There 's no getting around the fact that customer service is important to any business that wants to succeed. The quality of service that a

It is imperative to satisfy customers and give them an amazing experience at the company. While it cost less to sell to existing customers and companies can increase profit by selling to the same customers; if customers are satisfied, there is more chance they will come back for more services or products. Satisfied customers are a free marketing for the company. However, it is the opposite if customers are dissatisfied. Dissatisfied customer will tell 8 to 10 people about his or her experience (O’Brien, A & Marakas, G. 2004). If by any reason, representatives see that the customer is not satisfy, they should act fast and fix the problem. Furthermore, there is more chance for sale representatives to sell to an existing customer that to a new customer. A good strategy for customer retention is to reward good customers. Companies can easily do

Ritz-Carlton motivating and rewarding their employees, who have exceededtheir expectations, surpassed the highest goal with The Ritz-Carlton IncentiveAwards. Furthermore, managers give out the Gold Standard Coupons tothose employees who are ‘caught’ meeting the hotel standards for quality.These coupons can be exchanged for weekend accommodations at the hotel

There are several organizations that have competitive advantages in the industry. However, one familiar organization that has maintained its competitive advantage in its industry is the Ritz-Carlton hotel. Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, United States of America, Ritz-Carlton is regarded as one of the best in the hotel industry and has received several accolades for great customer services (Ritz-Carlton Hotels & Resorts, n.d.). Nevertheless, to fully understand its competitive advantage in the industry, it is essential to analyze its modus operandi. The Ritz-Carlton hotel management understands the value of employees; so ultimately investing in