Praise for The Customer Delight Principle
“For many years now, we at Harrah’s have implemented measures, processes and incentives that are based on the ‘customer delight’ principles described by Keiningham and Vavra. Our employees know that growth and profitability rests with changes in customer behavior, not simply improvements in customer satisfaction. This book does a great job of, first, demonstrating this crucial distinction and, then, providing methods for instituting organizational reforms to take advantage of the enormous opportunity associated with enhanced customer loyalty.”
—Gary W. Loveman, COO, Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc.
“Whereas customer satisfaction is a ticket to play, customer delight is a ticket to survive. Through numerous illustrative examples Keiningham and Vavra document this fact plus provide guidance to success. My guess is that The Customer Delight Principle will soon establish itself as a MUST-read for those who want to attract and retain customers effectively.”
—Professor Tor W. Andreassen, Norwegian School of Management
“A ‘must read’ for every entrepreneur who believes that success depends on satisfying the customer. The Customer Delight Principle shows how out of date customer satisfaction thinking is, and does so with easily understood examples, stories and numbers.”
—Senator Feargal Quinn, CEO, Superquinn Stores, Ireland and author of Crowning the Customer: How to Become Customer-Driven
“The Customer Delight Principle not only reinforces the need to break the service myth of customer satisfaction but also opens up a new Pandora’s box in the Services Management field for the years to come.”
—Professor Javier Reynoso, Services Management Research and Education Group, ITESM, Monterrey, Mexico
“Read this book before your competitors do! The Customer Delight Principle provides the framework and valuable insights for strategically delivering delight programs that build customer equity. It is crucial reading for any delight-seeking company interested in developing loyal relationships with high-value customers.”
—Ed Routon, CEO, Alcott Routon, Inc.
“Finally someone has made the case to move from satisfaction to delight. Keiningham and Vavra have captured very clearly the two most fundamental requirements for creating delight—a thorough understanding of customers’ expectations and the commitment of business leaders. Companies who fail to make customer delight a part of their strategic business model will quickly be overrun by those who embrace this concept and make it an essential part of their daily lives. That means that not only organizations, but also every department within them must understand the principles of what delights their customers and eliminate anything that causes pain—both internally and externally. I intend to make this book required reading for every leader in our organization.”
—Barbara Fitzgerald, Senior Vice President, PETsMART, Inc.
“I see many large organizations that go through the motions of customer satisfaction measurement (CSM) without really understanding why they are doing it or what they hope to gain from it. Some even question the value of this essential activity, because they gain so little from it. Keiningham and Vavra neatly expose the problem in this very helpful book that every CSM manager should read. They clearly explain why a focus on merely satisfying customers is indeed unlikely to be a rewarding investment of the organization's resources. By using clearly detailed examples of the struggles of several real firms the authors provide some very clear and practical guidance about how to make CSM pay off: First use it to know what your customers want and what delights them, and then use it to check that your organization is relentlessly working to delight them and to build their loyalty in cost-effective ways.”
—Anthony Zahorik, Ph.D., Vice President, ACNielsen Burke Institute
“This book provides fact-loaded, real-life case studies that bring the customer delight principle vividly alive with no sugar-coating. It transcends dry, academic bookstore fare in a way that practitioners and others can embrace and use in their day-to-day jobs. At the same time, it offers quantitative tools that can be readily applied for those so inclined. The book is a virtual road map for companies and managers who seek to develop stronger linkages between customer delight and the bottom line. Outstanding!”
—James A. Welch, Principal, Pittiglio Rabin Todd & McGrath
“Much has been written about customer satisfaction, a key challenge facing managers in today’s global economy. Keiningham and Vavra’s book, The Customer Delight Principle, is an enlightening work, rich in examples and offers a thorough, step by step, guideline to be implemented in order to achieve the desired profitability associated with delighted customers. Their work certainly falls in the ‘zone of delight’.”—Josué Christiano Gomes da Silva, CEO, Coteminas, São Paulo, Brazil
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