Borders in Service traces the intersection of service labour and national identity across global call centres in seven countries: El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Mauritius, Morocco, the Philippines, and the US-Mexico border. While most studies on offshore call centres have focused on India this collection explores the experiences of call center workers in many of the newly emerging hubs of transnational service work. In this collection, Kiran Mirchandani and Winifred Poster have gathered a wide range of contributors to explore the dynamics within global call centres. Such dynamics include: language, speech, accent issues, expressions of consumer sentiment, physical space, and organizational, human resource, and labour policies. By grounding the theoretical debates on nationhood and labour in the realities of daily life in global call centres, Mirchandani and Poster have created a timely, accessible and revealing collection that will change what we know about offshored customer service work.

"A tactical primer for any business embarking on the critical work of actively building community."--Seth Godin, Author, This is Marketing "This book perfectly marries the psychology of communities, with the hard-earned secrets of someone who's done the real work over many years. David Spinks is the master of this craft."--Nir Eyal, bestselling author of Hooked and Indistractable The rise of the internet has brought with it an inexorable, almost shockingly persistent drive toward community. From the first social networks to the GameStop trading revolution, engaged communities have shown the ability to transform industries. Businesses need to harness that power. As business community expert David Spinks shows in The Business of Belonging: How to Make Community your Competitive Advantage, the successful brands of tomorrow will be those that create authentic connection, giving customers a sense of real belonging and unlocking unprecedented scale as a result. In his career of over 10 years in the business of building community, Spinks has learned what a winning community strategy looks like. From the fundamental concepts--including how community drives measurable business value and what the appropriate metrics are--to high-level community design and practical engagement techniques, The Business of Belonging is an epic journey into the world of community building. This book is for decision makers who want to better understand the value and opportunity of community, and for community professionals who want to level up their strategy. Featuring a foreword by Startup Grind and Bevy cofounder Derek Andersen, it will give you a step-by-step model for strategically planning, creating, facilitating, and measuring communities that drive business growth. Attracting and retaining community members who are also loyal customers, brand evangelists, and leaders--that's the goal for today's connected businesses, and this book is the map to getting there.

This work offers a state-of-the art survey of information systems research on electronic customer relationship management (eCRM). It provides important new frameworks derived from current cases and applications in this emerging field. Each chapter takes a collaborative approach to eCRM that goes beyond the analytical and operational perspectives most often taken by researchers in the field. Chapters also stress integration with other enterprise information systems. The book is organized in four parts: Part I presents an overview of the role of CRM and eCRM in marketing and supply chain management; Part II focuses on the organizational success factors behind eCRM implementation; Part III presents cases of eCRM performance enhancement; and Part IV addresses eCRM issues in business-to-consumer commerce.

Every company is recognizing the critical importance of protecting its customer base by raising the bar of its customer service prowess. Excellence in Managing Worldwide Customer Relationships identifies the risks companies face when expanding their business model in both domestic and overseas markets and offers solutions, strategies, and a structure to minimize obstacles when selling to domestic and foreign markets while satisfying customers and developing new business. This fifth book in the Global Warrior Series looks at the obstacles in customer service management and provides a 10-step process for developing a best-practices approach that offers the best opportunity for excellence, world class initiatives, and high client satisfaction and retention levels. It focuses on technology, along with other measures and how it can be utilized in customer service relationships that will enhance the customers' loyalty. As companies grow within their North American markets and internationally, the book will also look at customer service in home markets, as well as in global operations, cultural issues, and expanding into world markets.

Sport and Policy is the first book of its kind to critically analyse the regulatory role of the state and its impact on sport and the intersections of sport with other areas of government policy. Offering a unique and comprehensive examination of how sport is affected by a range of government policy, each chapter uses an international comparative approach in order to facilitate a broad understanding of sport and policy in a global context. This book is essential reading for any student or practitioner studying or working in policy today, and is: The first book to examine the intersection of sport with other (non-sport) policies from an international perspective including topics such as gambling, the media, social inclusion and economic development Far-reaching in scope encompassing government regulation and sport's intersections with other government policies This challenging text provides an accessible critical analysis of the intersections of sport with government policy.

Developing Knowledge-Based Client Relationships, Second Edition, shows organizations how to lead their key clients into lasting, profitable, high-value relationships. Building on the powerful, tested principles of knowledge-based client relationships, Ross Dawson provides clear and extremely practical approaches for all professional and knowledge-based firms on how to create unique value for both clients and themselves. Detailed case studies across a wide variety of professional services industries offer valuable insights into world leading practice in the field. He examines key client programs, and how to create deeper knowledge-based relationships through these. He discusses in detail the collaborative technologies available today and how they can be used in client relationships, along with managing portfolios of communications channels. He also discusses firm-wide relationship management, leading relationship teams, and value-based pricing for knowledge-based client relationships. This is done by presenting underlying theoretical framework, a variety of tools for structuring relationships and presenting knowledge to clients, and numerous case studies and examples of firms which have implemented these concepts successfully.

"I've always said that education without execution is just entertainment - and Lior illustrates this beautifully in his book. It is important to learn HOW to implement a successful Customer focus strategy and you need knowledge and process to do it well. Read this book and learn."--Tim Sanders, Author of "Love is The Killer App" "Lior brings original thought to the world of business, ideas drawn from reality, based on solid observations with the clear objective of helping people make money. Read this and profit."--Jerry Vass, Author of "Soft Selling in A Hard World" and President Vass Consulting "You might not like this book. It's not filled with easy shortcuts and feel-good platitudes. BUT, when you're ready to walk the walk and not just talk the talk) about treating your customers right and growing your business, Lior's book is a fine place to start down that rarely-followed, very profitable path."--Seth Godin Author, Purple Cow & Free Prize Inside "Lior Arussy is a true customer advocate. This book is a must-read for anyone who knows that the only sustainable competitive advantage is to create a unique and meaningful customer experience."--Ginger Conlon, Editor-in-Chief, CRM magazine According to Strativity's 2003 CEM global study, 45% of executives surveyed do not believe they deserve the customer's loyalty. Following a decade of customer-centric books, the market is in a state of crises with over 50% customer focused projects fail. Passionate and Profitable is a new book that takes a critical look at the state of the companies' commitment to customers and exposes the fatal mistakes companies make and the lip service they pay to their customers. Full of examples and statistics, Passionate and Profitable argues that customer strategies success depends on making serious tough choices and not cosmetic works. It is those tough trade offs that will help companies unleash their passion for customers and in return, increase their profitability and sales.

Under the term Customer Relationship Management (CRM), companies such as SAP, Siebel Systems or E.piphany offer software solutions to optimize customer-facing processes. Business units responsible for the implementation of CRM software are in many cases relatively inexperienced in the reorganization of these processes. It is important for them to consider the needs of their customers as a whole. This book describes the customer relatioship using the concept of the Customer Buying Cycle, thereby creating a neutral orientation framework for CRM projects. For each phase of the Customer Buying Cycle it shows how Information Technologies can be used to generate benefits either for the customer or for the company that implements the CRM tools. This book includes many case studies exemplifying how CRM is realized in the practical business world.

The current shift in demographics - aging and shrinking populations - in many countries around the world presents a major challenge to companies and societies alike. One particularly essential implication is the emergence and constant growth of the so-called "graying market" or "silver market", the market segment more or less broadly defined as those people aged 50 and older. Increasing in number and share of the total population while at the same time being relatively well-off, this market segment can be seen as very attractive and promising, although still very underdeveloped in terms of product and service offerings. This book offers a thorough and up-to-date analysis of the challenges and opportunities in leveraging innovation, technology, product development and marketing for older consumers and employees. Key lessons are drawn from a variety of industries and countries, including the lead market Japan.

This interface is being recognized by business organizations as a key priority for management, and both practitioners and academics alike have placed a greater emphasis on the need to view the supply chain as a whole as the vehicle by which competitive advantage is achieved. As well as drawing upon current research and the experience of firms worldwide, Marketing Logistics uses numerous 'mini-cases' and vignettes to illustrate the key messages in each chapter and bring the theory to life. This book is an invaluable resource for managers who seek to understand more about the way in which the supply chain should be managed to improve their organization's competitive position, as well as students undertaking degree-level courses in marketing, logistics and supply chain management.

Refreshed and updated With an all-new preface and additional material, Mitchell's HUG YOUR CUSTOMERS continues to bring customer service to a whole new level. Includes new passages on how, in the thicks of the recession, he purchased a bankrupt company and transformed it into a raging success from 3,000 miles away.
A master of customer service reveals his secrets for developing long lasting business relationships and customer loyalty by making business personal.
Hug Your Customers is about customer service and how Jack Mitchell has practiced it by extending "hugs"--unexpected extras, from knowing each customers name, along with their family members and clothing preferences to handing out free coffee and newspapers on the Greenwich commuter train platform to say thanks (and by extension "Shop at Mitchells"). Mitchell looks at sales as being about something other than the product. You're not selling clothing, you're selling the relationship. That's why on Saturdays, many people come to Mitchell's just to see what's going on. In the summer, he's giving away hot dogs. Any time a regular customer walks in, the sales staff knows his name, spouse's and kids' names, clothing preferences and last purchase. Jack Mitchell is a natural story teller and his folksy, homespun style will appeal and educate.
There are several stories that Jack will tell that illustrate these kinds of hugs that exemplify outstanding customer service. Chapters include:

Hugging 101 The Three E's From Three Suits to Three Thousand Pick Your Game The Big Secret Everybody Gets It, Everybody Does It Game Day You Train Dogs, You Educate People I Love Mistakes The Power of New The Formula

Unlike other books which focus solely on the business or profit aspects of measuring the customer experience, this book focuses on the benefits to the consumer as well as the company or financial institution. The book describes how business and government can undertake market research to determine whether the credit and investment markets are functioning properly and providing consumers with adequate information to make sound and safe credit and investment decisions. A discussion of different market research methods abilities to uncover problems in the credit and investment markets is provided. Findings and trends from studies measuring the customers experience in the credit and investment markets during the 1991 - 2009 time periods are discussed along with regulatory guidelines and consumer protection laws. The methodologies used to measure the customer experience and detect misleading sales practices; unfair treatment and discrimination in the financial services market place are described in detail. The techniques of mystery shopping, matched pair testing and consumer surveys are described along with a detailed discussion of study design, data collection methods, sample size determination, statistical testing, reporting and analysis. Sample questionnaires, mystery shop scenarios and profiles and sample analyses and charts are provided.

This timely edited collection offers a multidisciplinary perspective on social commerce, a phenomenon that has gained increasing interest over the last 8 years. Investigating how social media can be used to generate value for brands beyond customer relationship purposes, the skilled authors explore how social media users co-create value for businesses, influence other consumers and generate electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Providing insights from practitioners and academics, this book goes further than simply exploring e-commerce and social media, and addresses the real relevance of social commerce in today's business landscape. With a selection of contemporary case studies and a Foreword written by Inthefrow's creator, Victoria Magrath, Social Commerce will be an engaging read for those studying consumer behaviour, online marketing, and e-commerce.

"Larry's thoughts on customers, culture and talent are immensely valuable for any business, anywhere in the world."
--Sheldon S. Wiseman, President & CEO, Amberwood Entertainment Corp.

"For Larry the relationship between customers and profitability is intuitive and effortless. By reading his book you will be galvanised to do something about it at a time when it couldn't matter more."
--Amanda Mackenzie, Chief Marketing Officer, Aviva

"Larry Hochman understands the business zeitgeist exceptionally well. "The Relationship Revolution" brings together what he has learned from hundreds of customers and thousands of managers. His argument that authentic customer relationships are what will separate the winners from the also-rans is provocative, challenging and a call to action."
--Dr Stan Maklan, Cranfield School of Management

"If you are still denying the importance of Web 2.0, then read this wake-up call from one of the world's foremost speakers on customer relationships. If you "truly" value your customers then "The Relationship Revolution" is required reading - in every part of the world and regardless of the business you are in."
--Scott Gustlin, Vice President, Interactive RTP

"Finally Larry Hochman, one of the world's most popular keynote speakers, has put his wisdom into a book. His insights on management, marketing, leadership, customer service and human resources will certainly help the readers create unique value... at the speed of life."
--Santiago Zapata, Founder and President, HiCue Speakers

In this long-awaited book, leading business thinker Larry Hochman maps out what you have to do to succeed in the coming decades. He gets under your customers' skin, shows you what they really want, and then takes you through what you have to do, inside and outside your organisation, to get there.

Inspirational and enlightening, "The Relationship Revolution" should become a new 'rule book' throughout your organisation.

Phone calls and emails from customers are not just events; they are significant milestones in customer relationships. This book presents a roadmap to significantly improving customer relationships, whether by phone, mail, fax, email, or Website, by getting the most out of call centre technology. The book bridges the business, technical and financial issues in building and managing a customer contact centre. It evaluates call centre technology and its practical implementation to foster enhanced customer satisfaction, while delivering results at a reasonable cost. The author explains how to transform a call centre into an effective cross media contact point staffed by people equipped with the appropriate tools, knowledge and skills to provide responsive answers to emails, faxes and calls requesting service and information. Further, the author explores how to make the call centre an engine of business growth by minimizing costs, enhancing customer satisfaction, and using technology to upsell and generate new revenues from existing customers.

This revised edition of Robert Jolles's classic book on sales technique features brand new material throughout, including illustrations, teaching aids, coaching techniques, and true implementation strategies
"
When you have a process, you have a way of measuring what you are doing. When you can measure it--you can fix it "
Customer Centered Selling "teaches the secrets of the world-famous Xerox sales training by reversing the conventional selling practices of searching for customer needs, pitching product, and adopting an order-taking mentality. Jolles provides a systematic, repeatable, predictable approach that teaches how to anticipate and influence behavior by studying and understanding the client's "Decision Cycle" and critical "Decision Points." Through the use of case studies, interactive activities, and job aids, anyone--from a seasoned sales professional to a manager or parent--can not only learn the power to influence behavior, but can implement these ideas as well. Put to good use by Toyota, Disney, NASA, Nortel, General Electric, a dozen universities, and more than fifty financial institutions, "Customer Centered Selling "provides a step-by-step, consultative process that inspires as it teaches.

For the first time in book form, "B2B Customer Insight: The Proven Path to Growth," will reveal how customer insight surveys tailored to B2B relationships generate significant strategic data; data that, when properly applied, enables company management to expand their share of existing markets as well as successfully penetrate new ones. When these surveys are regularly conducted and implemented, they lead to increased long-term profits and sustainable growth. This book will appeal to virtually anyone wanting to learn about the hidden dynamics of B2B transactions, and how to make those dynamics work in a supplier's favor in their customer relationships and overall business development. In my 20 years of consulting with large manufacturing companies in a variety of industries, I've been able to develop a tested and proven customer insight methodology that I will share for the first time in this book. Utilizing real-life case studies with clients who have agreed to participate in this project, I will also discuss how this research process should never stop with the numbers. Instead, it should provide practical and impactful solutions to specific business dilemmas. The advantage of offering actual case studies of companies who successfully made significant changes (of course based on our PMG customer insight surveys) will also differentiate us from other B2B business books that lack hard, fact-based guidance as well as multiple examples of genuine and significant application.

For the first time in book form, "B2B Customer Insight: The Proven Path to Growth," will reveal how customer insight surveys tailored to B2B relationships generate significant strategic data; data that, when properly applied, enables company management to expand their share of existing markets as well as successfully penetrate new ones. When these surveys are regularly conducted and implemented, they lead to increased long-term profits and sustainable growth. This book will appeal to virtually anyone wanting to learn about the hidden dynamics of B2B transactions, and how to make those dynamics work in a supplier's favor in their customer relationships and overall business development. In my 20 years of consulting with large manufacturing companies in a variety of industries, I've been able to develop a tested and proven customer insight methodology that I will share for the first time in this book. Utilizing real-life case studies with clients who have agreed to participate in this project, I will also discuss how this research process should never stop with the numbers. Instead, it should provide practical and impactful solutions to specific business dilemmas. The advantage of offering actual case studies of companies who successfully made significant changes (of course based on our PMG customer insight surveys) will also differentiate us from other B2B business books that lack hard, fact-based guidance as well as multiple examples of genuine and significant application.

Customer Service: Career Success through Customer Loyalty, 6e provides a systematic process for building service skills that all business people need. Presented in a friendly, conversational manner, the text is filled with examples that demonstrate the link between service skills and career achievement. This edition features more on social networking, trustability, and customer service trends. Information is also included on internal customers, emerging technologies, and stress-reducing techniques. Throughout the text, there is an emphasis on transforming good service intentions into a workable plan that yields loyalty and success.

"Customers at Work "is about the ongoing transformation of service relationships, focusing on the incorporation of the customer's active contribution to virtually all aspects and stages of the production process. This volume illuminates social relations between customers and service providers as they interact in any kind of service relationship. It presents sociological approaches that provide new insights into the debates about service proletariat and internet-based knowledge work. Recent research on service interaction, informed by the German sociology of work tradition, highlights profound changes in service relationships that will shape the quality of future service work. The authors of this volume bring together many of these recent core findings and offer them in a combination of theoretical exploration and empirical analysis to an international audience for the first time.

A revolution is taking place in the way companies organize and manage the "front-end" of their organization, where it meets its customers.
Traditional concepts of sales management, account management, and customer service are being overtaken by initiatives like customer business development, the strategic sales organization, and strategic customer management. This book aims to provide insights into how this revolution is unfolding and to provide a framework for executives and management students to address the issues involved. The book focuses on the transformation of the traditional sales organization into a strategic force leading the strategic customer management process in companies.
Traditionally, the area of sales management has mainly been treated as a tactical, operational topic in the conventional marketing literature--simply part of the communications mix within the planned marketing programme. However, the emergence of major customers as dominant buyers in many sectors as a result of pressures towards consolidation and enhanced scale of operations, is changing the way in which sales issues are addressed in supplier organizations. The growth of new forms of buyer-seller relationship based on collaboration and partnering has encouraged organizations to reconsider the sales and account management operation as an important source of competitive differentiation in commoditized markets. Increasingly, sales is being perceived as a central part of business strategy and attention given to the challenges in better aligning sales processes with strategy. This has many implications for the design of the sales organization and its management strategy, which go far beyond the confines of conventional marketing views.

The focus of marketing is shifting away from transactional marketing and toward relationship marketing. Companies are beginning to recognize the economic value of stable, long-term customer relationships based on a high degree of customer satisfaction, trust, commitment, and loyalty. The book provides a comprehensive overview of both fundamentals and important recent developments in this fast-growing field. It also presents examples of successful relationship marketing in practice."This book makes a landmark contribution in assembling some of the best contemporary thinking about relationship marketing illustrated with concrete descriptions of companies in the automobile industry, consumer electronics, public utilities and so on, which are implementing relationship marketing. I highly recommend this to all companies who want to see what their future success will require."Prof. Philip Kotler, Northwestern University, Illinois

*SHORT-LISTED FOR THE BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 2020!* Are you a Customer Success Executive or making your way up the Customer Success ladder? Do you want to transform churn into maximum recurring revenue and growth? Are you looking for a clear route to an established framework? Are you determined to be proactive, rather than constantly firefighting, with your customers? Is your company invested in or implementing a customer-focused philosophy? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this book is for you! Customer Success is an emerging discipline for professionals pioneering revenue growth through customer relationships, outcomes, trust, loyalty, retention and referrals. The Customer Success Pioneer is a practical handbook for creating a best-in-practice Customer Success function from the ground up. It will help you ensure that your existing portfolio of customers become successful partners - delighted, committed and renewing - by putting in place processes that will work across your portfolio and into the future. This book will help you find the essential frameworks to maximise customer retention, recurring revenue and growth, build a productive and balanced team and excel as a Customer Success professional.

This is an applied handbook for the application of data mining techniques in the CRM framework. It combines a technical and a business perspective to cover the needs of business users who are looking for a practical guide on data mining. It focuses on Customer Segmentation and presents guidelines for the development of actionable segmentation schemes. By using non-technical language it guides readers through all the phases of the data mining process.