"This is a must read for all startups and stakeholders."
- Steve Blank, author of The 4 Steps to the Epiphany, creator of Customer Development methodology
"The Entrepreneur's Guide is an easy read. It is written in a conversational tone, doesn't take itself too seriously, and avoids extraneous fluff."
- Eric Ries, Author & Creator of the Lean Startup methodology
"Get the CustDev book to dive deep into customer interviews and understand how your product can be developed to meet your customers' needs."
- Dan Martell, Founder of Flowtown, angel investor
Customer Development is a four-step framework for helping startups discover and validate their customers, product, and go-to-market strategy, developed by Steve Blank and an integral part of Eric Ries' Lean Startup methodology. Focused on the Customer Discovery step, The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development is an easy to follow guide for finding early adopters, building a Minimum Viable Product, finding Product-Market fit, and establishing a sales and marketing roadmap.
Deemed a "must-read" by Steve Blank and Eric Ries, inside you will find detailed customer development and lean startup concept definitions, a step-by-step approach to best practices, a business model analysis guide, case studies, rich graphics, as well as worksheets and exercises. No matter the stage of your business, you will return often to this guide to learn how to build a product people want;"get out of the building;" foster strong customer relationships; test business model risk; reach out to early adopters; conduct startup marketing; create a customer funnel based on buyers' process; and prepare your startup to scale up.
The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development: A Cheat Sheet to The Four Steps to the Epiphany, affectionately known as the "CustDev book," serves as course text for classes at Stanford University, University of Chicago, Boston University, DePaul University, University of Minnesota and University of Norway.
"Our UCL (University College London) students love The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development. Thanks to Brant & Patrick for writing this helpful book. "
- Dave Chapman, Deputy Head of the Department of Management Science and Innovation at UCL (University College London)
"Love it Required reading for all NYU entrepreneurs."
- Frank Rimalovski, Managing Director of NYU Innovation Venture Fund
This book is both an introduction for those unfamiliar with lean concepts and highly actionable for lean practitioners. It is a user friendly guide, written to be accessible to marketing professionals, Engineers startup founders and entrepreneurs, VCs, angels, and anyone else involved in building scalable startups.
Existing companies will benefit to from applying Customer Development principles described in detail herein: for example, startups struggling to achieve market traction, or well established companies seeking to spark new innovation.
This is a business book for startups like no other. No fluff, but rather sound principles and concrete steps to take to build your business. Get up to speed on Customer Development now.

What is the amazement revolution? It is the culture that can drive any organisation -- from one employee to tens of thousands -- to focus completely on delivering an amazing customer-service experience. In this sequel to the Wall Street Journal best-selling book "The Cult of the Customer", Shep Hyken shares seven powerful strategies that any organisation can implement to create greater customer and employee loyalty. In a tough, competitive, and price-sensitive economy, customer service is one of the most essential tools to separate your business from the competition. These strategies work, as evidenced by the more than seventy case studies and examples that Hyken shares throughout the book. These examples provide dozens of lessons that can and should be implemented immediately. Corporate and industry clients from all over the world have tapped into the expertise of Shep Hyken. His client list is a who's who in the business world. As an author and speaker, Hyken is known for his simple and direct strategies that help his clients build successful, customer-focused organisations.

-Current Questions that are being asked in Interviews TODAY. -Every single question is based on project knowledge and personal experience. -Divided into CRM functionality areas for easy reading. -Covers the most important concepts & configuration settings. -Focus on business scenarios. - There is NO Other book in the market for the CRM 7.0 Interview Questions. - The Question are ACTUAL questions asked in some of the regular interviews that the likes of Accenture & IBM do. (How do we know? Because we do some of these interviews ) - The author himself has over 12 years of SAP Experience

As we move deeper into the 21st century, Firms continue to struggle with the implementation of sales force technology tools and the role they play in sales representative performance. Foreseeing this changing environment, many sales organizations have begun to focus on technology-related strategies, business processes, and applications to adapt to these emerging issues.With this in mind, sales force technology usage has changed the methods of selling. Salespeople are no longer selling just a 'product'; instead, they are providing a valuable 'solution' to customer problems. Salespeople now act as consultant or experts and provide customized solutions. This role requires salespeople to develop a technological orientation to access, analyze, and communicate information in order to establish a strong relationship with customers. Sales technology enables salespeople answering the queries of customers to effectively provide competent solutions. This leads to strong relationships between a salesperson and a customer. Thus, technology tools are used not only for smoothing the work process, but also have strategic utilizations.With the advent and adoption of technological tools at exponential rates, many firms have witnessed the failure of their technology initiatives. The purpose of this book is to outline the important steps that must be considered and adhered to during a sales technology implementation. Perhaps the most important aspect covered within this book is that technology usage is both a strategy and a tool; therefore, we outline both strategic considerations as well as implementation procedures throughout each chapter. It is important to consider all the steps and the necessary actions that will need to take place before making the initial investment in technology; then and only then will the technology have its intended effect.

Do you want to be great? Do you want to be able to set yourself apart from 99% of the employees in your industry? Do you want to go to work, knowing you're the best you can be at customer service? If so, you need to ask yourself one question: "Am I Great at Customer Service?" This book showcases the 25 qualities of people who are great at customer service - not just good, but GREAT! You'll learn about the attitudes of the customer service stars. You'll learn what techniques they use when in front of the customer. And you'll learn what they do to shine even when the customer's not around. Each chapter describes a characteristic of greatness, incorporating funny, interesting, and thought-provoking stories that illustrate the point. And each chapter ends with the opportunity for you to think about...well, YOU! In the end, you'll learn specifically what you need to do to become GREAT at customer service!

Learn to: save time dealing with unreasonable customers reduce intensity of customer anger increase safety of employees and customers reduce stress related to angry customers convey image of constructive caring to government customers even when they are abusive set limits for angry customers and enforce them for mutual benefit Government and public sector departments and employees often deal with angry, irate, upset, manipulative, and aggressive citizens and customers, due to their regulatory responsibilities. Often employees are under-trained to deal with angry customers, leaving them at risk, while government agencies look uncaring and cold. Angry, unsatisfied clientele eat up hours of staff time. Government departments CAN provide excellent customer service. A critical step is learning how to defuse angry people so that the agency and the customer work TOGETHER. Defusing Hostile Customers -- A Self-Instructional Workbook For Public Sector Employees is a "seminar in a book" and contains an amazing collection of specific phrases and actions that can be learned by any public sector employee, drawn from modern understanding of psychology of aggression and psycholinguistics. There are over 80 specific tactics to be applied, and most chapters contain hands-on exercises and "homework," with key answers provided at the back of the book. Here's just a taste of the content: Government Context Nature of Hostile Behavior How Hostile Situations Escalate Principles of Defusing Art of Self-Control Starting Off Successfully Using Co-operative Language Verbal Self-Defense Techniques Acknowledgment Tactics Countering Non-Verbal Intimidation Referral Techniques Telephone Hostility Limit Setting There's even a chapter for managers and supervisors. This third edition (2010) is a unique blend of science and art not available anywhere else, and is based on the input of thousands of government employees over two decades.

An 8-step audit to ensure that your organisation stays focused on customer needs The only sustainable competitive advantage is based on satisfying customers thoroughly. Yet research shows that less than one third of all companies have a well developed and coherent customer satisfaction process linked to operating strategies and plans. This audit is the ideal business tool for any company seeking to analyse and improve customer satisfaction levels. It first explains the customer satisfaction process in detail, then analyses why companies fail to satisfy their customers and sets out a framework - the Stages of Excellence Framework - within which to implement an effective customer service programme. The audit sets out questions that you will ask at each of these eight stages: Understand customer requirements Analyse current capabilities Assess competitors' capabilities Identify gaps Identify options to gain strategic service advantage Analyse trade-offs Select service dimensions Structure service offerings and set goals Overall, the audit will help you to: Understand and define customers' needs and requirements Analyse your current capabilities Assess your competitors' capabilities Measure gaps between your capabilities and your customers' requirements Compare the options for gaining a strategic service advantage Analyse costs, benefits, risks and trade-offs Develop new strategies, prioritise initiatives and apportion resources.

Imagine using tools already at your disposal to significantly enhance relationships at all levels of your life. Nothing new to learnnot really. The vignettes in 'Care' from a Hall of Fame football quarterback to company CEOs to participants in homeless shelters renew our faith and lead to action in utilizing care factors in our lives starting right now.

The intended audience is includes parents, educators, anyone in social services or the medical field, managers and employees in business or non-profit organizations. The goal is for you to relate and be inspired to take simple actions that enhance trust and their relationships. 'Care' can also be a significant factor in improving loyalty when supervisors understand THEY have the power to positively impact their personnel no matter what else is happening in the organization.

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Whether you run your own company or work for a large corporation, establishing customer loyalty is a prerequisite for business growth. In "The Customer Rules," C. Britt Beemer, a leading consumer research and marketing consultant, and bestselling business author Robert Shook offer practical advice on how to build a robust company culture based on the concept of unsurpassed customer-service designed to increase your market share. . .

A combination of extensive market research unprecedented in scope, as well as close studies of fourteen companies that excel in the area of customer service, "The Customer Rules" distills profitable lessons on how to achieve strong customer loyalty. Referencing specific research findings, Beemer and Shook examine the obstacles that too often distract a company's focus from its most important task--providing preeminent service and creating a unique customer experience. The authors then supply fourteen workable solutions to ensure the return of customers time and time again, including: . . Instill the importance of customer service in every employee. Use a small-town approach to meeting customers' needs no matter how big your company is. Develop a unique identity your customers will seek out. Maintain a focus on the customer before, during, and after the sale. .

Success in retail, service, manufacturing, or any other business always boils down to the customer experience. Beemer and Shook use in-depth interviews with high-level managers from such companies as Chubb, NetJets, Edward Jones, Lexus, Johnson And Johnson, and Four Seasons Hotels to illustrate the best ways for creating exceptional customer service. "The Customer Rules" gives you thetools you'll need to become the undisputed leader in your industry..

Effective Customer Relationship Management (CRM) begins with a customer's first contact---whether on the Internet, through a call center, or in a brick-and-mortar store. "Jems from Johnson: A Guide to Successful Customer Relationship Management" provides an up-close look at the life cycle of the retailer-customer relationship. The quality of what follows the first contact, says author Claude Johnson, is every bit as important to your company's success as your product and your sales staff.

Successful CRM is the art of amassing and using data effectively to identify your customers and communicate with them frequently in a style that is personalized and appropriate to their purchases.

"Jems" is a treasury of results-oriented CRM techniques geared to maximizing your profits while yielding you more---and more satisfied- customers. You'll discover: .

how target marketing of your product can save your company money .

how to increase your customer base by determining your company's target market .

how to identify your ideal customer---and those you should avoid .

how to populate your IT system with the best data and how to use it for the mutual benefit of your company and your customers

You'll also learn techniques for developing dynamic, multi-media communications that captivate and draw prospects, then nurture and retain them as customers. Let "Jems from Johnson" show you how to get CRM right---from the first hello.

There has been no published academic research reported in the literature on member perceptions of service in private clubs. The private club may be considered to be unique because the members are also the owners of the club in which the events occur. The intent of this work was to determine if and to what extent members of private clubs have unique perceptions about the services they are afforded by the clubs to which they belong and of which they hold ownership or in which they have a vested interest. Country club members are demanding greater value from their clubs through improvements in cuisine and other modernizations. Strategic analysis of private club member views using the Critical Incident Technique provide a high level of insight into the basis for negative and positive service encounters. This work is an exploratory research study of member perceptions of service provided in private clubs. A study of these perceptions will be of value to club managers and hospitality students, and can be used to improve not only the services provided in private clubs to their members, but to increase the value of the private club to members.

Everyone has suffered through poor customer service. Whether it is receiving the wrong order at a restaurant or being treated like a number on the phone, these experiences change buying behaviors and affect the earnings of companies nationwide. It's time for managers and employees alike to say, "Enough "
Francisco Messina, a longtime customer service representative and manager in various fields, shares the advice you need to follow to be on the top of your game. Designed to be a quick-reference guide, this book will help you increase customer satisfaction, thereby propelling yourself and your company to greater heights. You'll find out:
- The basic skills you need to be an effective service provider;
- Why stepping into your customer's shoes is so important;
- Tips on improving your relationship with customers;
- How to manage client expectations;
- How to say no and still keep the client happy; - And much more
Regardless of what approach you take to customer service, you will find ways to improve yourself, those around you and your entire business with the tactics revealed in Serve Me Better ... Please

A fresh approach to providing extraordinary customer service!
Something that will set you apart from your competitors, expand your customer base, and improve your bottom line!
In "You're the Doctor...So Fix the Problem" Curtis Cowan presents an innovative and extremely effective customer service principle that will change the way you and your company do business. Read it in an hour; get a lifetime of Results! It's easy. It's rewarding. It's time!
"Revolutionize" Your Customer Service
* Easy transition of thinking different.
* Building a superior WEB-BASED Customer Service.
* Successfully performing Dual Roles, Customer Service and daily tasks.
* Thirteen Keys to Success in Customer Service
* Five sure ways to get Customers to lengthen each visit to your place of business.
Bring true Customer Focus into Reality.
See yourself in control not empowered. Dedicate Yourself to Serving Others - Three easy ways of enjoying servicing your customers. New powerful concepts and proven goal-setting exercise that you can easily relate to and change the way you think when dealing with customers.

The prospecting methodologies at the heart of this system have been at the root of sales success for years; this system incorporates much more Russell has integrated the fundamental elements of sales success into an efficient leads generation and CRM system. Systems are the best partner to any business. The gain in efficiency however makes it more beneficial to the Real Estate Professional because most are one person operations. This system is designed to produce results You will learn to: generate leads via proven methods grow your referral base initiate CRM campaigns master the 2 minute phone call database 100 new contacts in 4 weeks convert contacts to leads convert leads to transactions EARN 20% MORE than the average agent System covers advanced skills for dealing with clients, provides each reader with a 'warehouse' of objection-handling techniques and call scripts. You will learn to incorporate prospecting protocols into your daily routine to gain competitive advantage."

Henry offers employers a guide for finding and hiring top talent that can transform a business organization.

This book discusses the why, when and how to offer customer service (the right way). The right way produces companies that know how to extend their business life and expand future profits. The wrong way produces companies that treat their customers as transitory, and in the process become transitory themselves. Providing high quality service is optional, but always advisable. Service delivery is that all important bridging device that establishes positive associations between customers and the brand of an organization. The efforts to win over customer loyalty begin well before the purchase is made and continue indefinitely. When presented as part of a series of deliberate expectations, high quality customer service delivers greater brand recognition, improves customer retention, and builds company longevity.

What is your customers' first impression of your business? What are you known for, other than the products you sell? What are you doing to be memorable in your customers' eyes? "The Art of Celebrity Service" will help you achieve a standard of excellence that will blow your competition away

Author Eric Wilder discusses his Celebrity Service model and shows you how to add value to the products you sell. He also reveals ways to surprise and maximize interactions with your customers, and how to tell the difference between true customer satisfaction and customer sacrifice.

One of the most important aspects of the Celebrity Service ideal is a good training program. Wilder will teach you how to foster teamwork and responsibility within your business. You'll also learn how to create non-negotiable standards and how to form a self-disciplined team that is productive, easy to manage, and provides exceptional service.

"The Art of Celebrity Service" offers you the tools to create an environment that will give your customers that crucial, special feeling of importance. Everyone wants to be on the receiving end of a memorable experience-everyone wants to be treated like a celebrity

Excellence in customer service is the hallmark of success in service industries and among manufacturers of products that require reliable service. But what exactly is excellent service? It is the ability to deliver what you promise, say the authors, but first you must determine what you "can" promise. Building on seven years of research on service quality, they construct a model that, by balancing a customer's "perceptions" of the value of a particular service with the customer's "need" for that service, provides brilliant theoretical insight into customer expectations and service delivery.
For example, Florida Power & Light has developed a sophisticated, computer-based lightening tracking system to anticipate where weather-related service interruptions might occur and strategically position crews at these locations to quicken recovery response time. Offering a service that customers expect to be available at all times and that they will miss only when the lights go out, FPL focuses its energies on matching customer perceptions with potential need. Deluxe Corporation, America's highly successful check printer, regularly exceeds its customers' expectations by shipping nearly 95% of all orders by the day after the orders were received. Deluxe even put U.S. Postal Service stations inside its plants to speed up delivery time.
Customer expectations change over time. To anticipate these changes, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company regularly monitors the expectations and perceptions of their customers, using focus group interviews and the authors' 22-item generic SERVQUAL questionnaire, which is customized by adding questions covering specific aspects of service they wish to track.
The authors' groundbreaking model, which tracks the five attributes of quality service -- reliability, empathy, assurance, responsiveness, and tangibles -- goes right to the heart of the tendency to overpromise. By comparing customer perceptions with expectations, the model provides marketing managers with a two-part measure of perceived quality that, for the first time, enables them to segment a market into groups with different service expectations.

This hilarious book goes beyond customer service and teaches the reader how to build a customer base built on love, respect and admiration. Humorous insights in the book are designed to inspire employees to deliver extraordinary loyalty-inducing service. Learn why customer satisfaction is a pathetic goal and how to make the quantum leap to customer loyalty.

Foreword by Goran Carstedt, CEO of Volvo Sales, Sweden In this thought-provoking book Karl Albrecht introduces the revolutionizing concept of internal service. According to Karl, "If you're not serving the customer, your job is to serve somebody who is." He outlines a practical plan for turning all internal support departments into miniature service businesses. He shows middle managers and support employees how to identify and understand their customers, develop their service missions, improve their service practices, get valuable feedback from their internal customers, and negotiate reciprocal added-value relationships between departments. Goran Carstedt, head of Volvo Sales in Sweden, says, "In this book Karl Albrecht once again demonstrates his deep understanding for what it takes to make service excellence happen. The unique lesson is: 'If you ever hope to get things right on the outside, you must first get things right on the inside.'" Provide a copy of "Service Within" to every one of your managers.

The people approach to customer service will help everyone in your organization exceed the expectations of their internal & external customers.

When faced with the choice between cutting costs or improving customer service, most companies focus on tangible assets. But in our service economy, the most important asset is intangible: a company's relationship with its customers. The Satisfied Customer is a blueprint for understanding this fact of modern business and reveals the unheralded value of customer satisfaction. Drawing on the results of a massive survey of American consumer satisfaction and including examples from companies like Home Depot and UPS, Fornell presents some surprising conclusions about outreach strategy (exceeding a customer's expectations is risky, and increasing customer complaints can actually be a good thing). He also explains how to quantify and increase the value of a firm's customer relationships - what he calls the Customer Asset.

For forty years managers have been exhorted to "stay close to the customer and ahead of the competition." And with good reason Research now shows that market driven organizations outperform their rivals. Given the obvious benefits, why do so many companies fail to become market driven? Because their internal processes, structures, incentives, and controls get in the way, says George Day, one of the world's leading authorities on mar keting Strategy. Building on his pathbreaking book "Market Driven Strategy" and a decade of experience in coaching firms to deliver superior customer value, Day presents for the first time a battle tested hame work for creating the market-driven organization.

In eminently readable prose, Day argues that in successful market driven organizations, three key elements -- capabilities, culture, and configuration -- are aligned to the market. Day explores the distinctive market sensing and market relating capabilities that are at the heart of the market-driven companies. He draws on examples of such market-driven firms as Intuit, Wal-Mart, Virgin Airlines, Disney, and Gillette to illustrate how intimate knowledge of their customers and markets gives these firms a powerful advantage over rivals. By contrast, Day shows how failure to align the organization to the market can result in such mishaps as IBM's loss of leadership of the computer market or Motorola's stumble in shifting from analog to digital cellular phone systems.

Using case studies of Owens Corning, Sears, and the Eurotunnel, Day provides a concise roadmap to managers who want to strengthen the orientation of their organizations to the market. He concludes with a detailed diagnostic questionnaire to help managers assess their own progress Here at last are all the insights and tools necessary to construct a company with superior skills for understanding, attracting, and keeping valuable customers.

Quality of service is essential in the retail industry, if customers are to return time after time. This book sets out the "Continue and Begin" method of training for quality, using anonymous shoppers to observe staff in action. It explains how to motivate people and help them to improve, to achieve consistent high quality service across all branches of a company.