customer service · pdf filecustomer satisfaction graffiti richard feinberg, ... caring,...

Center for Customer-Driven Quality www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION GRAFFITI Richard Feinberg, Ph.D.

Center for Customer-Driven Quality Purdue University

1. The more high tech the world becomes, the more people crave high touch service. John Naisbett, Megatrends 2. Customers do not buy products or services so much as they buy expectations. Ted Levitt, The Marketing Imagination 3. The cost of landing a new customer is more than five times the cost of retaining an existing one. Robert Desatnick, Managing to Keep Customers 4. A loyal customer is worth thousands of dollars over the life of their relationship with your

company. Tom Peters, Thriving on Chaos 5. Seventy-two percent of the consumers who switch to a competitor did so because of customer

service problems. A study by The Forum Corporation 6. Only two percent of unhappy customers complain, while thirty-four percent of all dissatisfied

customers penalized the manufacturer by quietly switching brands. The study by The A.C. Nielsen Company 7. Sixty-eight percent of customers switch suppliers because of the indifference shown them by

customer service personnel. Tom Peters, U.S. News and World Report 8. Sixty-one percent of consumers polled say their pre-purchase decisions were most influenced by

the opinions of their friends, i.e. the importance of word of mouth. General Electric Study, The Information Challenge 9. The answer is yes…now what is the question? Waitress at LoneStar Steakhouse 10. In the long run, the most important single factor affecting a company's performance is the quality

of its customer service relative to that of its competitors. Robert Buzzell and Bradley Gale, Linking Strategy to Performance 11. By the way customers act, you'd think they own this company. And, in a way, they do!


12. Customer service expectations can be categorized into five overall dimensions: RELIABILITY,

RESPONSIVENESS, ASSURANCE, EMPATHY, TANGIBLES. Leonard Berry, Service Quality 13. Customers perceive service in their own unique, idiosyncratic, emotional, irrational, end-of-the-

day, and totally human terms. Perception is all there is! Tom Peters, In Search of Excellence 14. Undertake not what you cannot perform, but be careful to keep your promise. George Washington 15. Consistent, high-quality service boils down to two equally important things: caring and

competence. Chip Bell and Ron Zemke, Service Wisdom 16. Customers don't care what you know, until they know that you care. Digital Equipment Corporation, Customer Service Department 17. Listening is about trust and respect and involvement and information sharing more than it is

about ears. Beverly Briggs, Customer Connection Newsletter 18. Caring, respect, empathy, politeness are very important customer satisfiers that cost nothing. 19. The simplest and yet the most powerful words in customer service are "Thank You." 20. Customers don't expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things quickly when things

go wrong. Donald Porter, British Airways 21. Customers are our best friends. 22. When our customers rate us better or worse than somebody else, it's never very scientific, but it's

always disastrous if you score low! Jack Welsh, CEO, General Electric 23. Total quality customer service cannot be stored in inventory, it must be 100% available upon

demand. 24. Experienced and loyal employees are five times more likely to create satisfied loyal customers. 25. No company can produce outstanding customer service unless its top management are visibly,

constantly, and sometimes irrationally committed to the idea. David Davidow and Bro Uttal, Total Customer Service


26. Culture is nothing more than the values, beliefs, and norms of a group of people. Corporate leaders shape cultures, and the corporate culture is key to delivering total quality customer service.

Richard Normann, Service Management 27. People seem to notice when you're everywhere. So how do you get there? Instead of worrying

about how to drive people to your website, find creative ways to be on everyone else's. Provide a service that makes their websites far more useful, and they won't be able to live without you. You'll populate the Internet, be more visible, and, oh, yeah, become more profitable.

www.hp.com/e-services 28. To deliver total quality customer service, your pledge should be: "Look out customers - I'm

gonna knock your socks off!" Kristin Anderson and Ron Zemke, Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service 29. You never have a second chance to make a first impression, and unfortunately, first impressions

are the most lasting in a customer's mind. 30. In striving for total quality customer service, you're not looking for fault, but you're striving to

produce a solution as quickly as possible. 31. You need customers much more than they need you. 32. If we can improve customer satisfaction by only one percent, it means $275,000,000 in revenue

to us over the next five years. Robert LaBant, IBM Corporation 33. A 5% increase in customer retention equates to approximately a 100% increase in profits. Robert Sasser, Harvard Business Review 34. Customer complaints are opportunities for improvement and the key to future sales. Complaints tell you what is wrong . What is wrong can lead to improvement,

Compaints come from individuals and gives you an opportunity to recapture a lost customer. 35. If you think you don't need customers, try doing without them for 30 days. Richard Feinberg, Purdue University 36. The essence of business success is treating customers and selling products which overtime

makes the customer view you as the supplier of choice each time, every time. Richard Feinberg, Purdue University

37. Customer Delight is a state of experience in which the customer exclaims "WOW, that was the greatest __________ (fill in the name of your product) ever!"

Richard Feinberg, Purdue University 38. Treat the customer as appreciating assets. Tom Peters, Author/Consultant


39. You achieve customer satisfaction when you sell merchandise that doesn’t come back to a

customer who does. Stanley Marcus, Founder of Nieman-Marcus 40. Our customers are our number one sales force. John Scully, Former CEO of Apple Computers 41. You cannot expect your employees to delight your customers unless you, as an employer, delight

your employees. Carla Paonessa, Partner, Anderson Consulting 42. American Airlines calculated that if they had one more customer on each flight in a given year,

the difference in revenue would have been about $114 million. How much is one customer worth to you?

Guerilla Marketing Newsletter 43. Of America’s 100 largest companies at the beginning of this century, only 16 are still in

business. Across the Board Magazine, September 1994 44. In commercials, Mr. Goodwrench is always smiling and wearing a freshly pressed uniform and

returning a repaired car to a delighted owner, against the backdrop of a ludicrously hygienic garage filled with industrious auto repair technicians who are clearly capable of repairing the Space Shuttle. Has any US automobile owner ever actually encountered a repair department like this?

Dave Barry, Humor Columnist 45. What the customer buys and considers value is never the product. It is always...what the product

or service does for him. Peter Drucker, 1974 46. If we always do what we always did, we will always get what we always got. Rick Lowry, Tru-Serv 47. Customers don’t want their money back, they want a product that works properly. Dan Burton 48. Ask the lowest level front line people about your business. Sometimes they don’t know not to

tell the truth. Jim Robisch, Farnsworth Group 49. The success of Coca-Cola is not the result of government intervention. It is because consumers

like the stuff. Andrew Young, on Face the Nation 50. The dollar bills the customer gets from the teller in four banks are the same. What is different

are the tellers.


Stanley Marcus, Chairman Emeritus, Neiman-Marcus 51. Retail clerk to customer: “Any chance you could do your own paperwork, ring yourself up and

say, ‘thank you, come again,’ on your way out the door?” Cartoon by Goff 52. What I have found most valuable in this rotation was witnessing the voice of the customer first-

hand. Instead of reading figures indicating which product concerns are most often complained about, I have felt the emotional impact that these product concerns can have on customers. I have seen the wide range of expectations placed on the motto “quality is job 1.” I have heard the voice of the customer, and I will be a better engineer for it. Charlie Choi, Ford College graduate program trainee, advanced vehicle engineering

and technology--Call Center experience 53. Listening to customer must become everybody’s business. With most competitors moving ever

faster, the race will go to those who listen (and respond) most intently.” Tom Peters, Thriving On Chaos 54. Talking to customers tends to counteract the most self-destructive habit of all companies--that of

listening to ourselves. J. Brooks 55. “That’s Not My Job” This is a story about four people named EVERYBODY, SOMEBODY,

ANYBODY AND NOBODY. There was an important job to be done and EVERYBODY was sure that SOMEBODY would do it. ANYBODY could have done it, but NOBODY did it. SOMEBODY got angry about that, because it was EVERYBODY’S job. EVERYBODY thought ANYBODY could do it, but NOBODY realized that EVERYBODY wouldn’t do it. It ended up that EVERYBODY blamed SOMEBODY when NOBODY did what ANYBODY could have.

56. “My Bias” Companies should strive for WOW--100% customer satisfaction. They should be

prepared to respond when things go wrong. How you respond is the acid test for the 21st century.

Richard Feinberg, Purdue University 57. There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its

success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Niccolo Machiavelli, from The Prince 58. Do make certain that your customer wants are truly that—and not merely what some people in

the company think the customers want. The need for solid customer information is absolute; it will directly affect the quality of everything else that occurs in the process. Garbage in, garbage out.

William Barnard and Thomas Wallace, The Innovation Edge 59. Imagine, as a consumer, how much more seriously your consumer complaint would be taken if

you were complaining from inside an armored vehicle capable of reducing the entire “Customer Service” department to tiny smoking shards. What I am saying is: Forget the Automated Answering system. Get a tank.


Dave Barry, Humor Columnist 60. Groucho Marx despised the empty clichés of customer service correspondence. A letter from a

bank manager ended with the standard phrase, “If I can be of any service to you, do not hesitate to call me.” He immediately took pen to paper. “Dear Sir,” Groucho wrote. “The best thing you can do to be of service to me is to steal some money from the account of one of your richest clients and credit it to mine.”

The Executive Speechwriter Newsletter, Volume 11 Number 4 61. “A discovery by Xerox shattered conventional wisdom: Its totally satisfied customers were six

times more likely to repurchase Xerox products over the next 18 months than its satisfied customer. The implications were profound: Merely satisfying customers who have the freedom to make choices is not enough to keep them loyal. The only truly loyal customers are totally satisfied customers.”

Harvard Business Review, Nov./Dec. 1995 62. General Telephone Co. in Los Angeles was making a film for its employees. The original script

included this dramatization showing how to handle customers’ complaints: Customer: “You just can’t rely on your damn phone company for anything!” Employee: “You get your bill every month don’t you?”

63. GE’s goal is not to become smaller but to “get that small-company soul and small-company

speed inside our big-company body.” Jack Welch, CEO, GE 64. Every time a company is given an order by a customer, that company, at that moment, is the best

choice in the world. Ken Hammer, Businessman 65. You don’t sell what it is, you sell what it does. 66. The best way to win a Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award for yourself is to help your

customer win one first. 67. On October 4, 1957, the top ten businesses in Chicago were Swift, Standard Oil, Armour,

International Harvester, Inland Steel, Wilson, Sears, Montgomery Ward, Prudential Insurance and the First National Bank of Chicago. Thirty-five years later, the list of Chicago’s top businesses, ranked by sales, is a little different. It still includes Sears and First National, but it also includes CAN Financial, Amoco, Continental Bank, Citicorp Diner’s Club, and Commonwealth Edison. But ranked by market capitalization, which many would agree is a more meaningful measure Chicago’s biggest companies include Ameritech, Abbott Labs, McDonald’s, Motorola, Waste Management, and Baxter. These lists dramatically illustrate the evolution that American business has gone through over the past 35 years—an evolution characterized by a move away from commodities and commodity type manufacturing to financial services, health care and technology in many different formats. The list also leads to the next questions: Which companies will be among the top ten in the next 35 years?

Richard Rosenberg, Chairman & CEO of BankAmerica Corp., 1993


68. Quality isn’t about money, it’s about caring. It’s about wanting to be the best because there is personal pride at state—an individual declaration of identity with the product. There is always a market for the best, all over the globe. It’s an obvious and well-known fact that mountain climbers don’t like to buy discounted climbing ropes. And there’s the joke about the parachute offer for sale—cheap, slightly irregular, but used only once. When something is important as life and death—and all business decisions should be—quality is irreplaceable. Hap Klopp, President, The North Face (world’s largest producer of outdoor adventure

equipment) 69. Quality is the only patent protection we’ve got. James Robinson III, CEO, American Express Corp., 1992 70. People forget how fast you did a job—but they remember how well you did it. Howard Newton (1903-1951), American advertising executive 71. We know exactly where we want to go because our customers will show us the way. Jerry Stead, CEO, AT&T Global Information Solutions 72. In the long run, our customers are going to determine whether we have a job or not. Their

attitude toward us is going to be the factor determining our success. Every employee must resolve that their most important duty is to our customers.

Joseph C. Wilson, Xerox CEO 1961-67 73. The customer isn’t key anymore—the customer is dictator! 74. I solemnly promise and declare that for every customer that comes within ten feet of me, I will

smile, look them in the eye and greet them, so help me Sam. Employee Pledge, Wal-Mart Discount Stores 75. The opinion of management doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is what the customer is

doing and thinking. Piggly Wiggly Weekly Newsletter 76. If you are not romancing the customer…who is? 77. A study by the CFI Group finds that a 5% boost in employee satisfaction means a 2% increase in

customer satisfaction. The Wall Street Journal, August 1997 78. In order to truly provide good service, I ask myself, would I want to be served by me. Author Unknown

79. “About 15 years ago at one of our electronics facilities in Orlando, Florida, the complacency

bred of past success started to infect one of our manufacturing processes. Occasionally, parts were omitted from component kits prepared for assembly and inspection at another factory. Each missing part disrupted the assembly process and frustrated the workers assembling the products. I borrowed an idea from an automobile dealer in Dallas I had heard about. The dealer received few complaints from customers because he gave them the home telephone numbers of the mechanics who worked on their cars. I arranged for workers to include their names, work


phone numbers, and self-addressed postcards in the kits they prepared. Complaints dropped precipitously.” Norman K. Augustine, Chairman, Lockheed Martin Corp.

80. Sam Walton built Wal-Mart into a Fortune 4 company by living the philosophy that “There is

only one boss. The customer. And he, and she - - can fire everybody in the company from the chairman down, simply by spending his, or her, money elsewhere.”

81. Harry Bullis, former Chairman of the Board of General Mills, used to give his salesmen the

following advice: “Forget about the sales you hope to make and concentrate on the service you want to render.” The moment people’s attention is centered on service to others, they become more dynamic, more forceful and harder to resist. How can you resist someone who is trying to help you solve a problem? "I tell our salesmen," said Mr. Bullis, “that if they would start out each morning with the thought, ‘I want to help as many people as possible today,’ instead of ‘I want to make as many sales as possible today, they would find a more easy and open approach to their buyers and they would make more sales. He who goes out to help his fellowman to a happier and easier way of life is exercising the highest type of salesmanship.”

82. Because the customer has a need, we have a job to do. Because the customer has a choice, we

must be the better choice. Because the customer has sensibilities, we must be considerate. 83. Great customer service means comfort for the buyer. As one purchasing agent summed it up in a

conversation with a manufacturer: “do you know what your company really sells? Sleep. When I place my orders with you, I know there won’t be any problems. None. I can sleep all night.”

84. For too many companies, customer service means “We honor the credit card, but we don’t have

to honor the credit card holder.” 85. Eighty percent of American managers cannot answer with any measure of confidence these

seemingly simple questions: What is my job? What in it really counts? How well am I doing? W. Edwards Deming

86. WORLD-CLASS SERVICE RIGHT DOWN THE STREET. Finally, a group benefits provider

where you need them. Principal Financial Group Advertisement 87. People are a firm’s most important asset. If you have an excellent product but only mediocre

people, the results will be only mediocre. Richard Sloma, author of The Turnaround Manager’s Handbook

88. Politics isn't about winning at all costs. It's about maintaining relationships and Getting results at

the same time. 89. It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.

Tom Brokaw 90. What we need are more people who specialize in the impossible. Theodore Roethke


91. If we don’t change the direction we are going, we’re likely to end up where we are headed. Chinese proverb 92. You can’t guarantee you’ll never make mistakes. You can guarantee you’ll fix them. Jeff Bezos, founder & CEO, Amazon.com 93. Customer service is not an event or a department, rather it is a process of creating a customer

environment of information, assurance, and comfort. Frederick F. Reichheld, W. Earl Sasser, Jr. Zero Defections: Quality Comes to

Services. Harvard Business Review, Sept-Oct., 1990. 94. We run like mad, then we change direction. Bert Roberts, MCI 95. What brings people to their gift of service is a desire to do something that perhaps unlike their

day job…matters. Charles Trueheart, The Next Church 96. It’s in your hands so quit whining… Tom Peters, Innovate or Die 97. If you can’t say why you made your company a better place, you’re out. Cynthia Lellams 98. The Ritz-Carlton experience enlivens the senses, instills well being and fulfills even the

unexpressed needs of our guests. The Ritz-Carlton Credo 99. We knew from the beginning that if Saturn was to succeed, we would have to do more than sell a

good car. We would have to change the way cars are sold, the way people who sell them are perceived, and the way people feel about the experience of shopping for a car.

Stuart Lasser 100. Whatever made you successful in the past won’t in the future. Lew Platt, Hewlett Packard 101. If things seem to be under control, you aren’t going fast enough Mario Andretti 102. Ultimately, the axiom will no longer be “If the shoe fits, wear it,” but “Wear it and the shoe will

fit.” Hatfield says that a shoe will be like a chameleon one day. “It will look like a penny loafer when you put it on in the morning, but when you go play racquetball at lunchtime it will turn into a court shoe.” One size fits all.

Richard Stengel, The New Yorker 1997 103. Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime. Enlighten him

further, he owns a chain of seafood restaurants.


Microsoft Ad, The New Yorker 1997 104. You think you understand the situation, but what you don’t understand is that the situation just

changed. Putnam Investments adverstisement 105. They’re only puttin’ in a nickel, but they want a dollar song. Song title 106. I have a microwave fireplace. You can lay down in front of the fire all night in eight minutes. Steven Wright 107. The job can be completed in 5 seconds. Peter Large, The Micro Revolution Revisited 108. Since 1987, homes and offices have added 10,000,000 fax machines, while e-mail addresses

have increased by over 26,000,000. 109. Speed up. 110. Since 1983, the U.S. work world has added 25,000,000 computers. The number of cellular

telephone subscribers has jumped from zero in 1983 to 16,000,000 by the end of 1993. 111. Behave like you’re in business for yourself. Richard Feinberg, Purdue University 112. See yourself as a service center. Richard Feinberg, Purdue University

113. If we had similar progress in automotive technology, today you could buy a Lexus for about $2,

it would travel at the speed of sound, and go about 600 miles on a thimble of gas. John Naisbitt, Global Paradox 114. When a company’s customers are happy with the service and the product, and find enthusiastic

and knowledgeable personnel who are anxious to help, chances are that company will continue to enjoy the lucrative patronage of those customers for a long, long time.

N.W Pope, More Mickey Mouse Marketing 115. Let’s face it, managing your customer satisfaction isn’t a matter of life or death, it’s far more

important than that. Richard Feinberg, Purdue University 116. Investors should be able to reach their brokerage firm any way they need to, day or night.

Charles R. Schwab 117. What’s next is now. Sony® ad


118. Find a happy medium between knowing your business and knowing how to make your customers happy. If they trust you, then the hardest work is done, and you can focus on the real work: making magic happen.

Steve MacLaughlin 119. Freedom is actually a bigger game than power. Power is about what you can control. Freedom

is about what you can unleash. Harriet Rubin 120. We’ve always been renegades in customer service. We’re always asking, “how can we get the

customer the moment they need us?” Chuck Salter 122. Build Relationships…Build Your Dream. It starts with spending time with your members

Building relationships. Enjoying your work Doing what you love. ASF® Advertisement 123. "When I have a problem, they solve it. When I have a question, they answer it. That's why I'm

using ABC Financial Services." Michael Widener, Family Fitness 124. (Pointing to a bottle of Coke across his desk) “The lifeblood of the Coca-Cola company is you consuming that drink. If you stop consuming that drink our lifeblood is cut off. And I don't want anyone to forget that." M. Douglas Ivester, CEO of Coca-Cola. As quoted in the Wall Street Journal (Mar. 9, 1998) discussing what is important to this 124 billion-dollar company 125. “Exceptional customer service is 1% inspiration and 99% existing application.” Richard Feinberg, Purdue University 126. “The Audi A6 gives new meaning to the phrase ‘Follow that car’” Quote from the brochure for the 1998 Audi A6 127. “The all new 1998 Audi A6. Because a luxury-touring sedan must do more than transport you. It

must move you as well. Quote from the brochure for the 1988 Audi A6. 128. “Let’s make one thing perfectly clear…Your customer’s satisfaction.” Richard Feinberg, Purdue University 129. “Without dough…it don’t go.” Rick Lowry, Tru*Serv Corporation 130. “People judge others by their actions and themselves by their intentions. To be successful in the

eyes of you customers, you actions must match your intentions. Cindy Evans, Tru*Serv Corporation 131. “You can tell a lot about a company by the customers they keep.”


Richard Feinberg, Purdue University 132. “I am in favor of letting the status quo stay as it is.”

Wisconsin Legislator 133. “I like thinking big. I always have. To me, it’s very simple: If you’re going to be thinking

anyway, you might as well think big.” Donald Trump, 1987 134. “If the marketplace has gone bonkers, you better have a bonkers organization. Straitlaced folks

are not going to make it in a world that’s not straighlaced.” Tom Peters, consultant, 1992 135. “Unfortunately, status-quo thinking is still common. As markets change the established leaders

are often among those most blinded by the past successes. None of the companies that dominated the thriving ice-harvesting market in the nineteenth century converted to the refrigeration business. The Pony Express did not develop into a railroad. The producers of electromechanical calculators never made the technological leap into electronic computers.”

136. New expectations and new priorities are unsettling. But as former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson once observed, ‘He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects change is the cemetery.’”

Norman K. Augustine, Chairman, Lockheed Martin Corporation 137. “Of the 100 largest U.S. companies in 1917, we count only 15 companies surviving today.

Besides 6 oil companies, there are 2 automakers and these 7 others: AT&T, Citicorp, Du Pont, General Electric, Kodak, Proctor & Gamble and Sears. The other 85 went bankrupt, were liquidated, were acquired or were left behind.”

Forbes magazine, June 1997 139. “Practice does not make the athlete. It is the quality and intensity of the practice that makes the

athlete.” Ray Meyer, former DePaul University basketball coach 140. This is a phone, a supermarket, a computer, a movie theater, a bank, a game station, a radio, a

video club, a mail box and also a TV-set. Advertisement for Media Highway 141. Every company has to figure out what it’s giving away and what it’s selling…If you’re in a fast-

moving industry and you want to gain market share, this strategy is paramount.” Fast Company 1998 142. These people and companies are doing EVERY DAY what most of us are still just talking about

- - and what many of us have yet to start THINKING ABOUT. Fast Company 1998 143. Want to know how to provide great customer service? Think of every noteworthy experience - -

good or bad - - that you’ve had as a customer. Then think through what made it good or bad, and


plan your customer-service strategy around your answer. Finally, take things a step further and treat your employees the way you want them to treat your best customers. The rest takes care of itself.

Chris Brogran, Product Support Engineer, Boston Communications Group

144. If we insist that the customer is always right, then in every dispute the employee must be wrong. What kind of message is that to send? Besides, who cares who’s right or wrong? You’re in business to fix problems, not fix blame. Your job is to help customers be successful, not to pretend they’re infallible. Why not encourage employees to see themselves as detectives, coaches, and partners - - as advocates for the customer?

Bernice Johnston, President, Milestone Unlimited, Inc. 145. Life is full of mysteries, finding a reliable business shouldn’t be one of them. Richard Feinberg, Purdue University 146. We make sure 99.999% of the pixels in our screen are in perfect working order. It's that last

.0001% THAT KEEPS US UP AT NIGHT. Fujitsu Advertisement 147. We’re in the transportation industry, so it only makes sense that we never stand still. Norfolk Southern advertisement in Inc. Magazine, 1997 148. Seibel customers: 100% satisfied 100% successful. We do whatever it takes to make our

customers successful. Siebel advertisement in Forbes Magazine, 1997 149. So you think you know your customers? Meet Stella Burns. For two years, we’ve been mailing

her coupons for cosmetics, and she hasn’t redeemed a single one! Perhaps you should take a closer look at your customer profiles and buying habits…Right Stella? Good Puppy!

Data General advertisement in Forbes Magazine, 1998 150. TCG has always gone the distance for its customers. Now we go even further. TCG advertisement in Forbes, 1997 151. There is opportunity everywhere. If you have the vision to see it. The Montgomery Funds advertisement in The New Yorker, 1998 152. Create your own series of dodge ball trading cards…Because you can. Sony ™ advertisement in The New Yorker, 1998 153. Open 24 hours, easy ordering, fast shipping, gift wrapping, book reviews, recommendations,

editor’s picks, searchable database, bulletin boards, live events, every book in print, worldwide delivery, deep discounts…

…barnesandnoble.com….where the world shops for books! 154. Trying to do everything exceptionally well is an admirable goal but risks being unable to do any

one thing the best. Richard Feinberg, Purdue University


155. It’s about a real mean customer. The [cost] of survival in the auto industry will grow

substantially as the customer gets meaner and meaner and refuses to pay for new widgets. Alex Trotman, Ford Motor Co., May 1998 156. The true measure...is how quickly a company answers a support call. Fujitsu Advertisement, June 1998 157. Oddly, the most dangerous people in business are the ones who always tell you exactly what you

want to hear. CPA Advertisement, June 1998 158. The General seems to have forgotten that people need to be excited about their vehicles, in love

with the sheet metal, wowed by the interiors, excited by the performance. Jerry Flint, “Panic Time at GM” , Forbes, May 18, 1998 159. Hire people who are like your customers, rather than just like you. Robbie Stamp, CEO of the Digital Village 160. Teach people about the business, so that they can fall in love with it. Robbie Stamp, CEO of the Digital Village 161. This has been one of the great experiences of my life. You can’t image how much fun it is to

create a product that actually touches regular folks in their lives. Ed Colligan, creator of the Palm PDA 162. "It is not just about having web page but how that web page can give the customer what they

want." David Sager, Purdue University student 163. I keep telling them that we’re not geniuses but only a little ahead of the curve. Jim Assara, Founder and CEO of Shawmut Design & Construction 164. Smart? It’s not about being smart. It’s about being able to recognize when you do something

accidentally that in hindsight looks smart. Nick Reed, Co-Founder & CEO of Paragon Biomedical, Inc. 167. “My customers are calling 24 hours a day, but my business is only open 12 hours a day.” IBM Ad for ‘Affordable-Communications Solution’. 168. Lots of companies have a mission statement. How many have a mission?

Aetna US Healthcare Ad. 1998.

169. “If your customers are not treated as you would like to be treated they will become someone else’s customers.”

Richard Hinshaw, Purdue University student, 1998 170. “Complacency towards customer satisfaction is a recipe for business failure.


Julie Moore, Purdue University student, 1998 171. “When businesses realize that they need the customer much more than the customer needs them,

the road to success shortens significantly.” Emily Wheeler, Purdue University student, 1998

172. “…without customer satisfaction you have no business, no money, out of luck.” Karen Warnecke, Purdue University student, 1998 173. “It’s the consumer stupid” Steven Williams, Purdue University student 174. “What makes a company? Customers. What makes a good company? Happy customers. And

most importantly, what do happy customers want and need? Excellent customer service. Coleen Apache, Purdue University, 1998

175. “Nothings wrong. But many things could go wrong if we don’t prepare today.” Steve Ballmer, President - Microsoft 176. Customer Satisfaction - Ballmer plans to spend $250 million this year to boost customer support

and consulting staff by 25% each. Next he will send hundreds of engineers to the field to meet with corporate customers so they can better understand their problems.

Presidential priorities of Steve Ballmer, new President of Microsoft 177. “If anybody’s between you and your customers, you had better be shaking in your boots." Michael Mortiz, Partner - Sequoia Capital 178. 179. Customer relations is best strengthened by managing both customer satisfaction and customer performance. David Bowen, Thunderbird School of Management

Is Your Customer out of Focus?


181. Asking how much you can make on the Internet is the wrong question. The right question is how does the internet reinvent your business?

182. Be the best you can be in your best areas. Become partners with the best in areas that you cannot. 183. Non-stop, door to door, anytime, anywhere, guaranteed. Roberts Express 184. We are the most expensive courier in the world so we better be the best. Brice Simpson, CEO Roberts Express 185. Customer satisfaction is a mission not a program. 186. “A business is not about providing service or selling products anymore, it is about providing

service and selling products which are better.” Mitzy Sutanto, Student at Purdue University 187. “… (we must become) lunatics about customer satisfaction.” Jack Welch, CEO GE 188. " We need people who can hit the ground running. The standard hiring process--a resume,

interviews, some references--may tell you about history and hypotheticals, but it says little about how a candidate can add value to your company today."

Cathy Olofson, Fast Company Magazine, December 1998 189. "The measures that matter to us are the measures that our customers use." Scott McNealy, Go Fly Ltd., 1999 190. "I measure customer delight by talking directly to customers." Jerre Stead, Chairman and CEO of Ingram Micro Inc. 191. "Keeping employees happy is the key to long-term success. That means keeping the channels of

communication open--measuring satisfaction through surveys, as well as by just walking around and checking in with people."

Gary White, CEO of Gymboree, 1999 192. "Complaints provide a window into your performance."

Reuben Greenberg, Chief of Police, Charleston Police Department, Charleston, South Carolina

193. "We're not in the education business. We're in the transformation business." John Quelch, Dean, London Business School 194. "I have a technique I use to reinforce Rule Number Six for myself. I put a blank sheet of paper

on the stand of every musician at every rehearsal. That paper is an invitation to the players to inform me about how effective I'm being at making them the best that they can be."

Ben Zander, Conductor, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, 1998


195. "How do I create an environment in which people are committed to doing really great work? Tracking company culture is the answer. That means looking at the company as a whole and understanding how all aspects of it are interconnected."

Brian Maxwell, Cofounder/President/CEO of Powerbar Inc. 196. "If we want to see more risk-taking, we must ourselves take more risks. If we want people to

dream bigger dreams, we must ourselves dream bigger dreams. If we want the whole person to come to work, we must bring all of ourselves to work."

Barbara Waugh, Hewlett Packard, 1998 197. "How you handle adversity in the workplace tends to have much more impact on your career than

how you handle the good stuff. The people who know how to overcome adversity are the ones who rise to the top of the organization."

Martin Seligman, President of American Psychological Association 198. "Credit cards aren't banking, they're information." Rich Fairbank, Chairman and CEO of Capital One Financial Corp. 199. "Thank God for competition. When our competitors upset our plans or outdo our designs, they

open the infinite possibilities of our own work to us." Gil Atkinson 200. "If it ain't broke -- fix it. Take fast -- make it faster. Take smart -- make it brilliant. Take good -

- make it great." Cigna Advertisement 201. "If things were done right only 99.9% of the time, we'd have two unsafe plane landings per day at

O'Hare and 16,000 lost pieces of mail every hour by the U.S. Postal Service. Strive for 100% quality!"

Jeff Dewar 202. "People don't give a hoot about who made the original whatzit. They want to know who makes

the best one." Howard W. Newton 203. "If you haven't got the time to do it right, when will you find the time to do it over?" Quote from "Quality Service Teamwork/Successories Library" 204. "If you plant crab applies, don't count on harvesting golden delicious." Bill Meyer 205. "No one ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him; it is the

amount and excellence of what is over and above the required that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction."

Charles Kendal Adams 206. "Hold yourself responsible for higher standards than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse

yourself."


Henry Ward Beecher 207. "It is a funny thing about a business, if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often

get it." Quote from "Quality Service Teamwork/Successories Library" 208. "There are thousands of people who can help you improve your site. They're called users." Jackie Cohen & Maryann Jones Thompson, The Industry Standard, June 21, 1999 209. "Real customer service is about reaching and satisfying customers in every retail environment--

not only online and not only in a brick and mortar world." Kelly Mooney, Net Company, September 1999 210. "Nothing succeeds like excess." Oscar Wilde 211. A second-generation neighborhood grocery owner decided to "weed out all of those people who

weren't regular customers" -- and then launched the most radical loyalty program in the supermarket industry. Today, as members of Club DLM, Dorothy Lane's best customers in Dayton, Ohio, get the kind of treatment that you'd expect from a sales rep who's chasing a million-dollar account: free bouquets of flowers, free turkeys at Thanksgiving, Christmas gifts, invitations to concerts.

212. "Customer service excellence does not come cascading like Niagara Falls…it comes one drop at

a time." Quote from "Quality Service Teamwork/Successories Library"

213. "The polling place of any retail business is at the cash registers. Here, customer satisfaction can

be easily measured in terms of both size and the frequency of the transactions." Leonard Riggio 214. "Better three hours too soon than one minute too late." Shakespeare 215. "Delivering ads is one thing. Delivering CUSTOMERS is another." IBM Advertisement 216. E-commerce shoppers are easily frustrated by server error messages or having to wait for a

transaction to process. They're always just a click away from a competitor's site--and if they leave, they probably won't ever return.

Quote from "Red Herring," September 1999 217. Taking a bite from a Dairy Queen ice cream bar, Mr. Buffett said he simply buys what he knows,

then offered a judgment he has no doubt debated over many bridge games with his friend Mr. Gates. "The Dilly Bar," he said with a smile, "is more certain to be around in 10 years than any single software application."


218. Bill Ford and Jacques Nasser are transforming Ford from a carmaker into a consumer company that just happens to make cars.

219. "Walking down Main Street citizens are four times more likely to encounter an H&R Block

office than they are to encounter the Gap." Amity Shales, "The Greedy Hand" 220. SHOPPING ONLINE BEATS STANDING IN LINE. (www.landsend.com) Land's End Advertisement 221. "Every fall on the first day of class, I make an announcement: Everybody gets an A. There's only

one condition: students have to submit a letter, written on that first day but dated the following May, that begins: Dear Mr. Zander, I got my A because… In other words, they have to tell me, at the beginning of my course, who they will have become by the end of the course that will justify this extraordinary grade."

Ben Zander, Conductor, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra 222. TCPAOS -- The customer pays all our salaries. Dennis Pawley 223. Technology doesn't try harder, people do. AVIS Advertisement 224. "When a company is relying on you to help them succeed there is one thing you'd better

be…visionary." 225. COOPERTITION -- word to describe strategic alliances with potential competitors. "Amazon" 226. "We are hell-bent on not being in a railroad car as jets fly over us." Eisner's way of explaining why he keeps pushing Disney into new technology 227. "When you don't know what else to do, listen to your customers." Eric Schmidt, Novell CEO 228. WE'RE PROUD TO HAVE BEEN NAMED AIR TRANSPORT WORLD'S "1998 AIRLINE OF

THE YEAR." OUR ONLY REGRET IS THAT THE AWARD DOESN'T HAVE ROOM FOR 74,000 NAMES.

Delta Air Lines Advertisement 229. Customers are not dependent on us, we are dependent on them. We are not doing them a favor

by serving them, they are doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so. Quote from "Quality Service Teamwork/Successories Library" 230. "Never forget a customer, and never let a customer forget you." Harold McClindon 231. "Consumers are not statistics. Customers are people."


Stanley Marcus 232. WHAT IF EVERY SMALL BUSINESS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH WAS ABLE TO

SELL TO EVERYONE IN THE WORLD? Maybe there would be no such thing as a small business.

SmartAge Advertisement 233. "I spend most of my time talking and listening to customers. Here is how I learned to do that:

When my father, Frank, introduced his chicken to New York City in the early 1970s, he spent six months there and probably talked to every butcher there was in the city. He took notes on yellow pads and amassed 20 of them--800 pages. Just before he left New York, he was in a phone booth at LaGuardia Airport and left one of his yellow pads there. When he later found out that it was probably picked up as garbage and taken to a landfill, he tracked down the landfill and got it back."

James Perdue, Chairman, Perdue Farms 234. WHY ARE YOU STILL TREATING YOUR WEBSITE'S VISITORS LIKE THEY HAVE

NOTHING TO SAY? NetDive Advertisement 235. In business, there is only one boss…the customer. They can decide to fire everyone in the

company, from the chairman on down…by spending their money somewhere else. Quote from "Quality Service Teamwork/Successories Library" 236. There is only one way to build a business….satisfied customers, one at a time. 237. Our customer support is so responsive that, OOPS, there's a call, gotta go. Mind Spring Internet Services Advertisement 238. "We want our customers to wake up each morning and think, 'Boy am I glad that GSA exists!'"

GSA's goal isn't just to lower prices--it's also to "thrill" customers. Dave Barram, Head of General Services Administration, Washington DC 239. e-nnoy-ing: When it's 5:08 pm on a Friday night and the customer service department you need

to talk to about your latest Internet purchase is already at happy hour. Eliance Advertisement

240. "We expect our people to understand our customers' expectations and to exceed those

expectations. We don't expect them to wait for permission in order to do the right thing." Doug Woods 241. Customer satisfaction can best be summed up in two words…exceed expectations. Quote from "Quality Service Teamwork/Successories Library" 242. If you aren't satisfied with your web site performance, imagine how your CUSTOMERS feel

about it. Service Metrics Advertisement


243. "I was clueless. They were more clueless. The difference was 10 million dollars." 244. Customer satisfaction, not customer service, is the mission. Quote from "Quality Service Teamwork/Successories Library" 245. Now you can never be too rich, to think or have a web site that's too popular. Resonate Advertisement 246. Be sure to ask new hires what people they would recruit from their former company. Why?

Because great people tend to know other great people. John Sullivan, Head, Human-Resource Management Department, San Francisco State University 247. IT TAKES MONTHS TO FIND A CUSTOMER; SECONDS TO LOSE ONE. 248. At Mitel, the way to go faster--and to do better--is to stop spending time on things that don't add

value. 249. "WebAnswers is an outsourced service company providing a complete solution for delivering

instant answers to online customers' questions. We provide the systems, technical staff and knowledge-management engineers to develop, manage and host interactive knowledge bases for our clients. For those questions that require additional research, our customer-service agents find the right answer--and respond to the customer."

Eric Ornas, President, WebAnswers 250. To my Customer: I may not have the answer, but I'll find it. I may not have the time, but I'll

make it. I may not be the biggest, but I'll be the most committed to your success. Quote from "Quality Service Teamwork/Successories Library" 251. "I DON'T DO MALLS…" Avoid the crowds and shop at home with www.buyitnow.com. We

have everything you're looking for with name brand electronics, tools, toys, home décor items and more! For personal assistance call our Internet retail specialists @ 1-888-55BUYIT. Our exclusive hassle-free shopping is backed by a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee.

Why Shop Anywhere Else!

252. Browse. Buy. Back to Work. (Maybe we made it too easy). Blue Fly Advertisement 253. You're on your way to your office, and you're riding the elevator. The doors open, and the CEO

gets on. As the doors slowly slide shut, she turns to you and asks, "What are you working on that makes a difference to this company?" Her eyes bore into you. You're alone in the elevator with the biggest of the big cheeses, you've got two minutes to tell her exactly why your project matters. SO WHAT IS YOUR PITCH?

254. If you are standing still, you're falling way behind.


255. "In shopping for an 'I Miss You' card yesterday I came across one that said… 'You never write. You don't call. I never hear from you. You totally ignore me… Have you ever worked in customer service?'"

B.J. Fisher, Purdue University student 256. ORVILLE WRIGHT DID NOT HAVE A PILOT'S LICENSE. 257. "We don't need more breakthroughs in technology (but) in business philosophy." Stan Shih, Acer 258. The problem isn't losing your customers to an e-business. It's losing them to someone else's e-

business. MCIWorldcom Advertisement 259. "How many objects--and cars, for that matter--make people coo?" Sohrab Vossoughi, Founder and President, Ziba Design Inc. 260. Happ-e. We do e-fulfillment just for grins. Keep your customers smiling--from the moment

they place an e-order till long after your product reaches their doorsteps. Let us do your e-fulfillment and you'll always have a nice day.

SubmitOrder Advertisement 261. "A car is a commodity. That's why I'm not thrilled about buying a car over the Internet. The Net

is a great source of information on pricing and availability. But it can diminish your chances of getting a great deal. Dealers do not compete with one another on these sites--each site has specific dealers it works with. If you're persistent enough, you might get a better deal in person than over the Net."

Paul Maghielse, Omega Stamping Company 262. THE INTERNET: BRINGING PEOPLE, IDEAS AND REALLY NICE PENS TOGETHER. Ashford Advertisement 263. "Being a great businessperson not only involves knowing how to do your own job but how to

make your customers and employees so happy they never want to leave." Beth Pelger, Purdue University student 264. "A company finds its destiny by answering three questions:

1. Who are we? 2. What do we stand for? 3. How do we serve?"

Tom Chappell, Founder/CEO, Tom's of Maine 265. "WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR YOU PEOPLE TO GET THE ORDER RIGHT?" SalesLogic Advertisement 266. "When meetings are getting too antagonistic, or are moving too quickly through complex issues,

I will shut them down. 'This isn't a break…I want us to sit here in silence, with our eyes open, and to think about what we're trying to do.'"


Tom Durel, Former CEO, Oceania 267. "KEY TO INTERNET COMMERCE OF ALL KINDS: Your customers aren't customers

anymore. Your vendors aren't vendors anymore. They're either your teammates or someone else's teammates. If you're not on their team, they'll find someone who is. It doesn't matter if it's business-to-business e-commerce or retail e-commerce. Another team is just a click away."

John Ellis, Consultant 268. The Internet is a blank canvas…you hold the brush. Intendchange Advertisement 269. "This is your wake-up call: The new economy operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." Anna Muoio, Fast Company, October 1999 270. "Why would anyone go into the tire business? To change it!" Tom Gegax, Head Coach, Team Tires Plus 271. Finish this sentence: "I would spend more time on the net if…" (40% selected "it allowed me to

do more things that I couldn't do otherwise.") 272. You can search the world over for the finest in home design. OR You can just, well, search the

world over. HomePortfolio Advertisement 273. "Good service + customers = SMILES." Thomas Rickman, Purdue University student 274. "It's a fact of life: Most of us have been spoiled by Amazon.com's customer-focused retailing. I

have yet to buy from another e-tailer that gives me (as Amazon does) a complete record of what I ordered."

Jim Murphy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 275. "Ask not what your customer can do for you but what you can do for your customer." David Rabb, Purdue University student 276. "All the things you normally fuss and moan about to yourself and your buddies-- well, we have a

chance to do something about them. I can't say, 'THEY don't know what's going on.' OR 'THEY made a bad decision.' I am THEY."

Duane Williams, GE/Durham Factory 277. Eight hours a day, five days a week, the head of the Seattle's Home Depot store's garden

department roams the aisles of the outlet, scouting out anxious home improvers, helping them overcome their biggest do-it-yourself worries. "People come in with a lot of fear--fear of water, fear of electricity, and, if they're trying to put together a barbecue, fear of gas," says Greg McMillan. "All I'm doing here is empowering them."

278. LET'S FACE IT, WITHOUT AN E-CUSTOMER THERE IS NO E-BUSINESS.

Vantive Advertisement


279. "When you're trying to double the speed of product development, you have to give the right

people the right information at the right time." Quote from a Ford executive, Fast Company, October 1999 280. The New York Times recently reported that the combined 1998 revenues of every retailer on the

Internet--$8 billion, according to Forrester Research--did not match that of one e-commerce business: Cisco Systems, whose 1999 business-to-business e-commerce revenues exceeded $9 billion.

Fast Company 281. "I have one piece of advice for you: quit. Leave school tomorrow, take whatever money you

have left that you would have spent on tuition, and start an Internet company. Because if you stay in school for the next two years--if, when everybody else is dreaming and innovating, you spend time on the bench, watching the game go by--you'll miss the greatest land grab, the greatest gold rush of all time, and you'll regret it for the rest of your life."

Jason McCabe Calacanis, Speech to Harvard Business School 1999 282. IN THE RACE FOR QUALITY, THERE IS NO FINISH LINE. 283. "If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade." Tom Peters, "The Pursuit of Wow" 288. Surfing Manifesto: "Give me what I need--and fast. After all, I'd rather be hiking a trail or floating

on a river." Bill Greer, Founder, GORP (Great Outdoor Recreation Pages) Fast Company Magazine, November 1999 289. "THE ULTIMATE GOAL: Make yourself an adviser to your customers. Offer suggestions based

on their personal preferences. Know your merchandise, and identify all of the different ways to shop for it--by price, age, gender, color, style, mood, or any combination of those categories. Build a smart, robust database, one that delivers search results that are relevant, visual, complete, and helpful."

Kelly Mooney, Resource.com 290. Which would you rather have? A company that's simple to do business with or a company that makes business simple? Gateway Advertisement 291. "When it comes to time management, I have one piece of advice: Push yourself as hard as you

can. Always push yourself, even when it hurts--because every second counts." Todd Krizelman, Co-CEO, The Globe.com 292. "I did a few calculations and then took my final figure to a top executive at the company. This

one engineer, I estimated, was worth $29 million to this company. Do you know what that executive did? He wrote the engineer a check for $1 million. That was exactly the right reaction. Most great people don't appreciate how valuable they really are. If they did, then lots more of them would be getting million-dollar bonuses."


John Sullivan, Head, Human-Resource Management Program, San Francisco State University

293. "Customer service is the online experience. Online, no transaction is tangible. A customer is in a

self-service environment. So retailers must know what the customer wants before she tells them. From start to finish, the experience is the only thing that matters."

Anna Muoio 294. Nearly every bulletin board in every office at Dell Computer has a sign that reads:

"The Customer Experience: Own It." 295. Hanging above a set of cubicles--home to employees who sell computers to government

accounts--is a gift-wrapped box labeled "the 'Customer Experience.'" That label serves as a reminder that at Dell, bonuses and profit sharing are tied to what those three words signify.

Quote from "Net Company," Fall 1999 296. DESERT YOUR ONLINE CUSTOMERS, AND THEY'LL RETURN THE FAVOR. www.liveperson.com 297. "The whole point is that owners of computers shouldn't have to get involved in making them work

as promised. They should just work, all the time." Walter Mossberg, Wall Street Journal, April 30, 1999 298. "We'd rather cannibalize our store sales (via our catalog and Web site) than have someone else do

it." Jake Mendelsohn, CIO, PETsMART, "Chain Store Age," November 1999 299. E-VOLVE YOUR BUSINESS Richard Feinberg, Purdue University 300. FOCUS ALL ASPECTS OF YOUR BUSINESS ON YOUR CUSTOMERS AND THE

REWARDS ADD UP FOR EVERYONE. Lucent Technologies Advertisement 301. "How do you get people to pay attention to your messages when they are dealing with more email

than they can possibly read, more Web sites than they can possibly surf, more TV commercials than they can possibly watch?"

Polly LaBarre, "Fast Company," September 1999 302. "Only a few mom-and-pop shops deserve to be called 'beloved.' Most of them survive because

their customers have no better option. Thankfully, those stores will die. But mom-and-pops that provide real value to their customers will prosper."

David Blanchard, "Fast Company," September 1999 303. "The armies that will win in the future--and, by extension, those organizations that will wage

successful campaigns of any kind, whether they're commercial, military, or otherwise--will be those that marshal 'creative solutions in ambiguous circumstances.' Everybody's got to know how to be a leader."


General Peter Schoomaker, Commander in Chief, U.S. Special Operations Command 304. QUESTION: What did the e-tailer say to the retailer? ANSWER: My floor space is bigger than

yours. USWeb/CKS Advertisement 305. "Zero time is about the ability to react instantaneously, to provide value for every customer at

every opportunity. Without the Internet, you can't be Zero-Time--PERIOD." Keri Pearlson, Business Professor, University of Texas (Austin) 306. "Hire a vice president of customer experience. You need one person who will be a champion for

the customer--one person who can move through various business units and act as an advocate for customer-centric design."

Anna Muoio, Net Company, Fall 1999 307. "The Internet makes shopping easier and more enjoyable." (67% say that that's a reality; 33% say

that that's a myth.) Fast Company, October 1999 308. "Every word on our site should help to create a positive user experience." Alicia Dougherty, Bigstep.com 309. The government ensures that no more than .0009% Of your food is rodent free. Every percent

counts. Bankrate.com Advertisement 310. "For the first four years, no new enterprise produces profits. Even Mozart didn't start writing

music until he was four." Peter Drucker, Management Consultant 311. "Give me a stock clerk with a goal, and I will give you a man who will make history. Give me a

man without a goal, and I will give you a stock clerk." J. C. Penney 312. "Convenience, Convenience, Convenience! I need to have information at my fingertips." Carley Roney, Cofounder/VP, the Knot, Inc. 313. "We used to measure how many calls we could take per hour. Now we focus on first-time

resolves--solving the problem once and for all, even if that means talking longer with a customer."

Manish Mehta, Dell Computers, Net Company, Fall 1999 314. "Every project we take on starts with a question: 'How can we do what's never been done

before?'" Polly Labarre, Lend Lease Corporation 315. "Many people believe that we have entered the age of the Internet. It's more accurate to say that

we're living in the age of the customer. Make no mistake: customers are in control today. They


have access to more information than ever before, and they can retrieve it faster than ever before. There has never been a better time to be a customer-- or a more demanding time to be a company."

Anne Busquet, President, American Express Relationship Services, American Express 316. YOU'RE E OR YOU'RE OUT. EDS Advertisement 317. "The most important kind of time is the time that it takes to acquire and retain your customers.

That's what 'time zero' is all about: How fast are you retaining customers that you already have? How fast are you grabbing new ones?"

Mark Teflian, President, Time 318. If… The average single female breaks up with 4.3 men, avoids 237 phone calls and

Ignores approximately 79 red lights per year -- What are the chances she'll read YOUR e-mail message? …Say something specific. Contact us for e-messaging campaigns that get results.

Message Media Advertisement 319. "We're not in the coffee business serving people. We're in the people business serving coffee."

Howard Schultz, CEO, Starbucks Coffee, Customer Service Management, March/April 1999

320. "I want to do stuff well, but even more important, I want to do the right stuff for the right people." Ken Keberle, BizVillage, Fast Company, October 1999 321. Wouldn't it be great if every time you named your clients, people said "Wow" instead of "Huh"? Strategic Interactive Group Advertisement 322. DELL COMPUTER FORMED THE 'CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE COUNCIL,' A GROUP

THAT IS SCRUTINIZING EVERY ASPECT OF HOW DELL INTERACTS WITH CUSTOMERS.

323. "One of the most distinctive--and powerful--characteristics of the Web is its ability to level the

playing field. For shoppers, that means more information about pricing, dramatically simplifying the process of comparison shopping."

E. Savitz, "The Industry Standard" 1999 324. "We used to measure how many calls we could take per hour. Now we focus on first-time

resolves-solving the problem once and for all--even if that means talking longer with a customer."

Manish Mehta, Dell Computer 325. Ancient Dilemma: If you've got a million customers, how do you make each one feel like one in a

million? Xerox Solution: Talk to customers one-on-one.

Xerox Advertisement


326. WHY BUY THE COW WHEN YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE MILK FOR FREE? Sun Microsystems 327. "Sales professionals die only when they fail to add or create value for their customers and

prospects. Whether a company's sales strategy is e-commerce, direct sales or a combination of the two, the focus remains on the top line of the income statement--SALES."

Sam Parker, Cofounder, Justsell.com, "The Industry Standard," October 25, 1999 328. "We're not going to build this company by servicing cars, we're going to build it by servicing customers." James Wheat, President, Jiffy Lube, "Customer Service Management," March/April 1999 329. "BRANDS MATTER. Indeed, in the new world of business--a world of overcapacity and sensory

overload--brands matter more than ever. WHY? Because brands are a form of shorthand. Customers think about what matters to them, analyze their choices, and settle on a brand. Once they've done that analysis, they're very reluctant to do it again."

Bob Pittman, President/COO, America Online Inc. 330. "The biggest challenge facing companies in the 21st century will be to differentiate themselves

from everyone else--to create a passionate following among customers who have too many choices."

Andy & Kate Spade, Cofounders, Kate Spade 331. "It's difficult to convince great people to pay attention to you if you don't have a great reputation.

You need to attract people by interesting them in what you're doing." Eric Raymond, Fast Company, November 1999 332.

The little black dress. Diamonds.

Great service. Some things will never

Go out of fashion.

British Airways Advertisement

333. //companies/customers/suppliers/partners/everyone/everywhere/prepare to merge Welcome to the City of “e”

SAP Advertisement

334. At the heart of the Web are two important lessons about your career: You are your most

important product, and everything about you gets more valuable when you use technology to leverage it. According to Web wizard, Nathan Shedroff, creating your personal Web site is less a technical challenge than an emotional one. Once you've answered the question "What is your brand?" you're ready to create the brand called URL.

Quote from Net Company, Fall 1999


335. A few examples of Microsoft-based business-to-business commerce solutions:

MERISEL strengthened their business relationships by giving tens of thousands of resellers real-time inventory and order-status access.

OFFICE DEPOT increased sales by millions of dollars by enabling over 20,000 of their business

customers to purchase goods with custom catalogs and pricing. SAINSBURY'S one of the UK's largest retailers, is integrating hundreds of disparate suppliers

via a Web-based value chain management system. 336. "In five years, there won't be any Internet companies because they will all be Internet companies.

Otherwise, they will die." Andy Grove, Intel Chairman 337. He's a nasty, noisy, belligerent, bellicose, Bullying, combative, crotchety customer. And he's

going to read your agents the riot act. (Exactly what he's been created to do.) www.Mosaix.com 338. "Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, you are going to be able to buy a work of art.

How exciting is that?" Diana Brooks, CEO, Sotheby's 339.

CONFIDENCE One Company. One Message:

TOTAL SATISFACTION

Panasonic Advertisement

340. "It's going to be a Web Christmas." Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon.com 341. When it comes to e-business, you've got two choices - get your feet wet soon or risk being left

high and dry. Cambridge Technology Partners Advertisement 342. "If you organize information so that it serves your customers, they'll stick with you. In a digital

marketplace, you're not offering customers a new catalog every year; you're offering them a new catalog every night. You don't post a new price every hour. Time is information, and information is time.

Mark Teflian, President, Time 343.

Change one thing, and it's just not the same. But if every part is exactly right…

MAGIC


Mercedes Benz Advertisement

344. "If the customer wants to buy through the Internet, we have to make that happen. If we don't, someone else will. And we'll lose."

Earl Mason 345. "And we are prepared to make anything. There is no such word as 'no' in our kitchen." Charlie Trotter, Chicago, Fast Company, December 1999 346. EVALUATE THIS STATEMENT: FIVE YEARS FROM NOW, RETAIL OUTLETS WILL

HAVE BECOME RELICS OF THE PAST. 8% say that it's "certain to come true within five years." 48% say that it's "possible, but not likely to come true within five years." 24% say that it "will not come true within five years."

Article from Fast Company, October 1999 347. "As they hit the back end of their life cycle, baby boomers seek more personalized funerals,

including different kinds of funeral services, different kinds of music, and different kinds of caskets--caskets that make a statement.

Batesville Casket Company 348. What do you get when you cross a premier investment bank with the speed of the Internet? A

distinct edge. DLJ direct

349. "Had Levi's focused on giving customers what they want--an easy, enjoyable experience buying

jeans--the site would have made the revenue needed to keep the site afloat. A bad customer experience caused Levis.com to fail."

Mark Hurst, Founder/President, Creative Good 350. Thanks to all our salespeople. Especially those of you not on the payroll. That's why we would

like to sincerely thank all the people who bought a Lexus in the past ten years, and then encouraged others to do the same. While you may not be on the payroll, we do owe you a debt of gratitude. Thank you.

Lexus Advertisement 351. Web users are no longer satisfied with sheer quantity of information. They want Quality.

looksmart.com 352. Better to shoot yourself in the foot, than have a competitor shoot you in the head. Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. slogan 353. virtually every lipstick

virtually every fragrance virtually every eye shadow virtually every nail color virtually every beauty gift virtually every beauty treatment virtually www.sephora.com


354. The customer is always dead. Batesville Casket Company 355. She's thrilled to be answering 95% of customers' e-mails within 3 days. (Doesn't know that

within hours most went straight to her competitor's site.) Genesys Advertisement

356. "We no longer set about finding consumers for a mass-produced product. Now, we use an

intimate knowledge of our consumer to find products for him or her." Dirk De Vos, Levi Strauss

357.

24/7…25/8… whatever it takes

ESG Advertisement 358. Products Mean Something Visitors are invited to type in their own Coca-Cola stories using

computers located outside the theater. In the first three weeks, 1,800 people recorded their stories.

Quote from Fast Company, January/February 2000 359. Now you can never be too rich, too thin, or have a web site that's too popular. Resonate Advertisement 360. The Ritz-Carlton Credo

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel is a place where the genuine care and comfort of our guests is our highest mission.

We pledge to provide the finest personal service and facilities for our guests, who will always

enjoy a warm, relaxed yet refined ambience. The Ritz-Carlton experience enlivens the senses, instills well-being, and fulfills even the

unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests. 361. Man has visited the moon 6 times in 30 years. Sound like your Web site? MyEvents.com 362. One of the most compelling forms of service is self-service. That's why Dell hosts a bulletin

board where die-hard customers answer questions for other customers at the rate of 400 to 500 per day. The Dell site also features a massive database of FAQs and other documentation, along with a natural- language search engine (called "Ask Dudley") that handles 50,000 inquiries per week.

Net Company, Fall 1999 363. The quickest response time wins. Ernst & Young Advertisement in Industry Standard


364. Try British Airways and we guarantee you'll fly with us again. Give us your opinion and we'll

give you two free tickets to the world. British Airways Advertisement

365. When you use an American Express Card to purchase online, you will not be held responsible

for any unauthorized charges. GUARANTEED. AmericanExpress.com

366. John Wanamaker said half the money he spent on advertising was wasted. He just didn't know

which half. Avenue A Internet Media Advertisement

367. The market never bought anything…people do. 368. In an information economy, nothing is more essential--or move valuable--to a company than

real-time information. Fast Company, 1999

369. "Companies that place customer information at the heart of their business and make that

information available to all employees are ones who have excelled in their industries." The Patricia Seybold Group

370. The power to personalize your brokerage experience to fit your goals, your life, your unique way

of doing things. Fidelity Investments Advertisement 371.

: logged on to RealEstate.com: 27 seconds

: searched for the perfect home: 12 minutes

: applied for the lowest rate mortgage: 7 minutes

: waiting for movers to arrive: 5 hours, 17 minutes and counting


RealEstate.com The easiest part of getting a home. 372.

Starbucks' Organization Chart

OUR CUSTOMERS

_________ ALL OF US

373. "IKEA's concept is articulated in a document drafted by Kamprad in 1976: a furniture dealer's

testament. It outlines a set of nine commandments—including a perpetuation of the 'IKEA spirit' of enthusiasm, thrift, responsibility, humbleness, and simplicity; and 'always asking why we are doing this or that…refusing to accept a pattern simply because it is well established."

Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA 374. "The right frame of mind is that your customers are loyal to you, right up until the moment

somebody else offers them better service." Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com 375. It's amazing what can happen when you listen to your customers. FM Global Advertisement 376. "Remember: It's not how satisfied you keep your customers, it's how many satisfied customers you keep!" F. Reichheld, Customer Service Management, March/April 1999 377. "Building a great company on the Web isn't about 'aggregating eyeballs,' 'increasing stickiness,'

or embracing any of the other slogans that masquerade as strategy. It's about rethinking the most basic relationship in business: the one between you and your customers. How well do you meet their needs? How smoothly do you solve their problems? How quickly do you anticipate what they'll want next? The real promise of the Web is a once-and-for-all transfer of power: Consumers and business customers will get what they want--when and how they want it, and even at the price they want. The customer experience is the next competitive battleground."

Jerry Gregoire, Dell Computer 378. If I build it, they will come…Right? Building a successful online community for customers,

partners or employees takes expertise and experience, not just technology. Participate.com 379. "Car designers need to create a story, every car provides an opportunity to create an adventure." Freeman Thomas, Dahmler Chrysler 380. THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL. It's 2 a.m. While your company is closed for business,


Your competition is busy taking orders over the Internet. Gartner Group Advertisement 381. Forget faster or cheaper. The Web challenges you to rethink the most basic relationship in

business: the one between you and your customers. How well do you meet their needs and solve their problems? The Web requires you to make bold promises--and to deliver.

Net Company, Fall 1999 382. Week 12 / "We've finally got our Website up and running."

That little voice / "How's anyone going to find it?" Microsoft Advertisement 383. Twenty million holiday shoppers want in your store. Here are the computer keys.

Qwest Advertisement 384. MISSION e-business. Lots of customers. Lots of partners. Room for error? Zilch. 385. Shortly after the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago opened in 1989, Nancy Reagan attended a fund-

raising dinner there for a local hospital. Before the function there was to be a small gathering of the 20 largest donors with her and the former President. Hans Willimann, the hotel's manager, was awaiting their arrival, and looked around the room and saw that every man was in a tuxedo except for himself and one other man. And that other man was very unhappy. "I took him to see our maitre d'hotel and said 'This man needs a tuxedo.' The maitre d'hotel was unflappable. With the Reagan entourage bearing down on the hotel, he disappeared; moments later, he returned with a tuxedo--the one off his own back, freshly pressed. He put it on the man. It was a little too big, so we had the pants tightened by the hotel seamstress. The man went to the party and enjoyed himself. The next day we got a letter from him that began, 'You don't know who I am, but…' The grateful guest turned out to be Fred Steingraber, CEO of A. T. Kearney. Since that

evening, Steingraber has shown his gratitude by steering a good deal of business to the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago."

386. The most exciting thing to ever happen to Home Equity Loans just fell into your lap.

WellsFargo.com (on the laptop) 387. "It's strange, really. You almost never buy furniture for an 'unhappy' reason. You buy furniture

because you have a new child, or you've bought a house, or you've landed a new job. And yet customers almost never have anything but horror stories about the experience."

Andrew Brooks 388. Each campaign should provide at least one moment of pure exhilaration.


Excite@Home 389. "Just as US car makers are getting their quality up to par, the Japanese are redefining and

expanding the term. The new concept is called Miryokuteki-Hinshitsu--making cars that are more reliable, that fascinate, bewitch, and delight."

Business Week 390. Now the letter 'e' isn't the scariest in the alphabet. XPEDIA Advertisement in Wall Street Journal 1999 391. Can yo u know too much about the company you're banking on to handle your mission-critical

Internet operations? We don't think so. Because the more you know, the more you'll understand why 38% of the top Internet sites work with us. We're on a mission. Yours.

Exodus Advertisement 392. The sole purpose of MARKETING is to get MORE PEOPLE TO BUY more of Your product,

MORE OFTEN, for MORE MONEY. Fast Company, September 1999 393. "If anything, e-commerce will cause mom-and-pop-like businesses to proliferate. E-commerce

redefines the neighborhood, the community, and the customer relationship. Instead of creating limits, it creates access to opportunities."

"Mark," Decatur, Illinois, Fast Company, September 1999 394. Industry "experts" have dismissed Linux as too complex and geeky for the general public. Then

again, isn't that what they said about the Internet? Salon.com Advertisement 395. Your satisfaction is not only our guarantee, it's why we're here. To be perfectly clear, we insist

you're delighted with your purchase. If for any reason, a selection doesn't meet your expectations, we stand ready with a full refund or exchange.

Restoration Hardware Customer Service Guarantee 396. Financial Advice. Anytime. Anywhere. Americanexpress.com 397. Loyal Customers are like your hairline. You've got less than you think. And you're losing more each day. Netcentives Advertisement 398. THE WORLD'S SHORTEST SALES COURSE #1. Know their business.


#2. Know your stuff. 399. “You’re not engineering a web site. You’re engineering a user experience.”

Mohanbir Sawhney, Kellogg Graduate School of Management 400. “It’s simple: sell to people who want your product; ignore those who don’t.”

Guy Kawasaki, garage.com 401. “The one thing I’ve learned from my experience is that no matter what you sell, you’ve got to

sell satisfaction.” Stanley Marcus, Neiman Marcus

402. “One of the secrets of selling is knowing how to stage a great show.”

Carl Sewell, Sewell Motor Co. 403. “You have to start with knowledge of your consumers. In our case, we are the consumers: we

live the same life.” Daymond John, Fubu 404. E-Gad! Here we are, only a few short years into this new-economy thing, and already we’ve run

the poor letter “e” into the ground. Email, a simple enough application in the beginning, has been e-viscerated by the e-mergence of e-commerce, which is part of e-business, conducted by e-companies that have e-strategies. This e-nables them to compete in the e-revolution that is going on in the e-world. The composite e-ffect is e-nough to turn e-veryone into Sesame Street’s Oscar the Grouch and announce that “The next e-leven years of the new e-conomy will be brought to you by the letter ‘e’.” E-nough!

Alan Webber, Fast Company, February 2001 405. A box without service is a box.

Hewelett Packard advertisement 406. TAKE THIS JOB AND LOVE IT. When employees are happy, it shows.

Principal Financial Group advertisement 407. What’s the best way for customers to reach you? Any way they want.

Avaya Communications advertisement 408. “Higher education IS THE ONLY BUSINESS THAT HAS A CEREMONY for firing its

customers.” Elliott Masie, The Masie Center

409. “…when was the last time you went to the store to buy old meat, rotten produce, dried out deli

meat or bakery products, or outdated dairy items?” Bruce Peterson, VP and General Merchandise Manager, Walmart


410. Guarantee Your satisfaction is not only our guarantee, it's why we're here. To be perfectly clear, we insist you're delighted with your purchase. If for any reason, a selection doesn't meet your expectations, we stand ready with a full refund or exchange.

Restoration Hardware, www.restorationhardware.com 411. Why did many online furniture retailers fail? “They were not run by people who have a passion

for home furnishings. They were run by people who thought that they could build companies really fast and make a lot of money.”

Mitchell Gold 412.

413. If we’re going to spend the next 20 years putting little vowels in front of all of the words that

describe the new economy, it’s going to be a long 20 years. Alan Webber, Fast Company, February 2001

414. Your Internet business will survive given fundamental business skills and 1 billion dollars of

start up money….maybe! Richard Feinberg, Purdue University

415. “An automobile is just a Java browser with tires.”

Scott McNealy, InfoWorld, August 10, 1999 416. “….brands tell a story and convey a set of values right from the beginning? If you get the story

right, people will connect with it. Kirk MacGibbon

417. “What drives these people is not a desire for power but a desire to have a positive influence on

their workplace.” Darwin Sanoy

418. “Either you think – or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and

discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you.” F. Scott Fitzgerald

419. Dot-coms are “dot-toast.”

IBM CEO Louis Gerstner 420. We are just kids on the Internet; we’re only seven years old.”

Jeff Mallett


421. ARE YOU AN EBUSINESS – OR AREN’T YOU? HOW DO YOU KNOW?

www.forrester.com 422. Know them. Reach them. Keep them.

www.iLux.com/keep 423. Stop Internet Dotcomatosis

www.portalb.com 424. Wap* *to go laptopless www.ericsson.com 425. Success comes from anticipating your customers’ needs before they do.

www.peoplesoft.com 426.

LANGUAGE YOU CAN UNDERSTAND.

UNBIASED GUIDANCE.

IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE WE’RE ACTUALLY

TALKING ABOUT INSURANCE.

Insurance.com 427. XUMA KICKS ASP

XUMA advertisement 428. What would your customer service manager do with your Web site if he could?

www.eprise.com 429. “Who ever reads this stuff? U trust us with your details. We trust u with our service. It’s all a

leap of faith. ☺ blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah …… we will trust and respect each other ☺ we will b here as long as the universe wants us ☺ u will tell all

your friends about us ☺ ….yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda

yadda yadda yadda From the Terms and Conditions of Service Web page of South African cellular network operator MTN (www.mtnsms.com/registration/tac.asp)


430. Your flair for finding the best deals is uncanny. Again and again , you emerge victorious. Is it just good luck, or do you know something? 140,000 stores, 30,000 brands. Find out what’s on sale at stores near you.

Shoppinglist.com 431. “While bouncing balls and plastic Frisbees may be effective in achieving short-term awareness

of a site … there is not a better marketing tool out there than satisfying the customer.” The Industry Standard, August 21, 200, pg. 29 432. Our business model: We succeed when you succeed.

Engage advertisement 433. Retailers differ by product, not by clicks or bricks. Creating value is derived from customer motivations, and those will vary by customer and product, but

not “e-” or “re-“ Gary L. Moreau 434. Your customers won’t always tell you what they want. But we can.

Verbind advertisement 435. Don’t just compete. Conquer.

Calico advertisement 436.

YOU’LL FIND MUCH AT OUR RESORTS EXCEPT, PERHAPS, THE WORDS

TO DESCRIBE THEM. Four Seasons advertisement 437. “Most of what you and I do in the day-to-day business world is total bullshit!”

Thomas J. Peters 438. I’ll never have to hear “I’ll get back to you” again.

Siebel advertisement 439.

HERE’S WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO DO.

• MEET WITH YOUR TEAM • DISCUSS A BIG PROJECT • HOLD A STRATEGY SESSION • MAKE A SALES PRESENTATION • CONDUCT A FOCUS GROUP • TRAIN A NEW USER • IMPRESS YOUR TOUGHEST CLIENT

HERE’S HOW YOU’RE GOING TO DO IT.


www.CentraNow.com 440. Marketing so personal you get immediate reactions. 1:1 marketing made easy

Market first advertisement 441. You’ve been waiting for someone to act like a partner, not a vendor.

You’ve been waiting for an Internet that lives up to its potential. You’ve been waiting for an e-business approach that’s complete and fully integrated. You’ve been waiting for someone to help reducte time to market. You’ve been waiting for a way to simplify e-business infrastructure. You’ve been waiting for someone to make your life easier. You’ve been waiting for a partner that solves your problems rather than pushes their products. You’ve been waiting for someone who won’t disappear once they install. You’ve been waiting for solutions that won’t become obsolete the second your company grows.

The wait is over. Genuity is here.

www.genuity.com Genuity advertisement 442. SO you find this house. Victorian. Mammoth kitchen. You want it. You go to your bank. The

mortgage guy looks at your paperwork. Whoops. You’re missing a statement. Month of March. Oh. But I do my checking here, you say. Can’t you just pull it up? He can’t. First floor, he says. You go there. The teller shakes her head. We need a written request. By mail. But it’s simple, you say. I just need March. I’m with the mortgage guy now. DIFFERENT DIVISION, SHE SAYS. BUT AREN’T YOU THE SAME BANK? “YES AND NO.” SHE SMILES. THEN YOU SMILE BACK. AND MAKE A REALLY, REALLY big WITHDRAWAL.

Ibm.com/e-business/now 443. Why make returning as simple as buying? So your customers come back to buy again.

United States Postal Service advertisement 444.

THE NEW RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

If you build an end-to-end acquisition and retention solution, consumers will

come to your site. But with customer-acquisition costs soaring

and your competitors working around the clock,

YOU DON’T HAVE TIME.

MyPoints advertisement 445.

TAKING IT LIVE IS THE GOAL.


TAKING IT PUBLIC IS THE DREAM.

TAKING IT TO YOUR CUSTOMERS FIRST IS THE KEY.

Insight express advertisement www.insightexpress.com 446. Shopping on the Net isn’t about clicks. It’s about what happens when you click.

Doug Keeley, Industry Standard 447. There are few sure things in life. Your e-business performance better be one of them. Resonate advertisement, www.resonate.com 448. In a tornado, even a turkey can fly! Corollary: No matter how fast you move, someone will be close behind! A law of the digital economy: The big will not eat the small. The fast will eat the slow! “In the fight between an alligator and a bear, the winner will be determined by the terrain” (Jim

Barksdale) Strategic Thinking for eBusiness

449. There are three things that are important at Starbucks. Relationships is the first and the other two

don't matter. Linda Thompson Director- Starbucks Resource Center

450. Customers with problems have to go through a healing process before they can move on. The

goal is to get the customer to say, “I’m really not happy about what happened, but I can’t thank you enough for the support you provided to get me through it.”

Leo Colborne 451. The hardest thing about customer service is to get the people in the field to have a real sense of

urgency. The average guy would die with a problem before calling for help. And some people just don’t like to face irate customers, so things can get kind of buried.

Mike Ruettgers 452. Many of us in the service industry are tired of being punching bags for abusive customers to hit

whenever they feel like it. If customers really want a sympathetic ear when they call a customer service rep, they need to mind their manners.

J.S.Bausman 453. “Service is bad because it’s hard to do. The secret to good service, really, is to treat your

customer like you’d like to be treated yourself.” Somewhere between point one and point two, I missed the hard part.

Don Peppers, One to One 454. It’s people who make technology effective – not the other way around. Lorraine Rieger, Sprint West Management Inc. 455. Provide a service that is so great that it creates its own demand.


Swatick Majumdar 456. I drink a case of Diet Coke a week, and as far as Coca-Cola is concerned, that’s it. I get no

discount for my devotion, no price break or special status for my loyalty. When I walk into my local Stop & Shop to buy my soda, I’m just another customer even though I have been drinking Diet Coke for 27 years. That’s crazy. I am not just another customer – I happen to be one of Coca-Cola’s best customers.

John Ellis, Fast Company 457. I placed my first order with Amazon in 1997 and have been a steady customer since. In four

years of making purchases for myself and for others, I’ve found what I needed, ordered it, received a flurry of emails about my orders, and then gotten either thank-you notes or what I ordered. I’ve never had to contact Amazon about any matter. I have had, in essence, no customer service from Amazon. Put another way, I have had such perfect customer service, the service itself has been transparent. That is exactly what Amazon wants.

Charles Fishman, Fast Company 458. I just don’t know why they’re shooting at us. All we want to do is bring them democracy and

white bread. Transplant the American dream. Freedom. Achievement. Hyperacidity. Affluence. Flatulence. Technology. Tension. The inalienable right to an early coronary sitting at your desk while plotting to stab your boss in the back. That’s entertainment.

Hawkeye Pierce, MASH 459. Are you eating breakfast cereal or is that just a bad telephone line? Klinger, MASH 460. Did you ever try to outsmart your 17 year old daughter? Well, don’t try to outsmart your

customers, either. Rick Stewart, Chief Executive Officer, Frontier Cooperative Herbs, From the Customer is Always Right, Armen Kabodian

461. A smile costs nothing – and in the hospitality industry, it means everything.

Bryan D. Lanton, Chairman &CEO, Holiday Inn Worldwide, From the Customer is Always Right, Armen Kabodian

462. Customer Service does not come from a manual…It comes from the heart. When it comes to

taking care of the customer…you can never do too much and there is NO wrong way if it comes from the heart!

Debra J. Fields, President, Mrs. Fields, Inc., From the Customer is Always Right, Armen Kabodian

463. Stop thinking “customer satisfaction,” start thinking “customer enrichment.” A blind focus on

customer satisfaction binds a business to the here and now, to articulated customer needs. “Customer enrichment” leaps over the paradigms of the present to new technologies, new products, new approaches and, ultimately, wonderful new markets.

Melvin R. Goodes, Chairman & CEO, Warner-Lambert Companyrbs, From the Customer is Always Right, Armen Kabodian


464. It’s a New Jersey approach to playing TV music. We’re very intense about it. It’s something I learned from Bruce a long time ago: you owe it to your audience to give your all every night.

Mark Weinberg, The E Street Band 465. The only thing that keeps us alive is our brilliance. The only thing protecting our brilliance is

our patents. Edwin Land 466. Next to knowing all about your own business, the best thing to know is all about the other

fellow’s business. John D. Rockefeller 467. Be everywhere, do everything, and never fail to astonish the customer. Margaret Getchell 468. If the spirit of business adventure is dulled, this country will cease to hold the foremost position

in the world. Andrew W. Mellon 469. Several customers stopped me just to say how much they loved our associates and how a trip to

the Wal-Mart store made them feel better. Lee Scott, President and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. 470. It’s no longer a matter of customer satisfaction. At 1-800-FLOWERS we strive for “Customer

Jubilation.” Every one of our employees is challenged to give the customer something to brag about. That creates word-of-mouth (WOM) and it’s good old WOM that makes us more profitable, able to attract great talent, and assures us a corporate culture that is prideful and motivated. It’s a great cycle.

Jim F. McCann, President, 1-800 Flowers, Inc. 471. Today, satisfying customers is not enough. We must focus on making our customers successful.

That means anticipating their needs and surrounding them with a full circle of service making it easy for them to justify, acquire, install, operate, maintain and upgrade our products over the lifetime of those products.

Jodie K. Glore, President, Allen-Bradley Co. 472. Throughout the company, we are no longer measuring results against our expectations. Because

our opinions don’t count. They are irrelevant. It’s only the customers’ expectations that matter. Say we accomplish some task 93 percent of the time. We don’t take it upon ourselves to move our goal to 95 percent. Instead we ask customers what they need. Maybe they think it’s essential for us to be at 100 percent. Or maybe 30 percent would be more adequate. They call the shots.

Richard C. Notebaert, Chairman & CEO, Ameritech Corporation 473. In the end, it is the CUSTOMER’S perception that matters! Delivering what WE think is

superior customer service makes no difference at all. Larry Dorfman, President & CEO, Automobile Protection Corp. --APCO


474. Make serving the cutomer an obsession. Dr. R. L. Qualls, President & CEO, Baldor Electric Company 475. The polling place of the retail business is at the cash registers. Here, Customer Satisfaction can

be easily measured in terms of both the size and the frequency of the transactions. There is no such thing as customer “dissatisfaction” in the competitive world of retailing.

Leonard Riggio, Chairman & CEO, Barnes & Noble Inc. 476. Customers don’t care how big you are. They don’t care about organizational charts or how many

divisions you have. They want the person standing in front of them to be able to solve their problems.

Vernon R. Loucks Jr., Chariman & CEO, Baxter International Inc. 477. “Customer Satisfaction” is the true fuel of the free enterprise system. In a free market

environment, traditional indicators of success, such as sales and market share growth, are only indicators of a company’s level of “Customer Satisfaction.”

Dane A. Miller, President & CEO, Biomet, Inc. 478. Frozen Spinach $1.25

Naval oranges $.75 for 2 Haggan Daz $2.99 a pint

Buying it in a supermarket that thrills, educates, and entertains....PRICELESS

Richard Feinberg, Purdue University 479. Customer Satisfaction is the oxygen of life at Worth Magazine. In everything we do, customer

satisfaction is Job One. From the beginning, I put my phone number in my “Forward Thinking” column; I read and respond to every letter that Worth magazine receives; and I am constantly watching our renewal rates. Why? Because a satisfied reader is not only money in the bank, but the emotional currency that makes the publishing Worth Magazine truly worthwile.

W. Randall jones, Founder & CEO, Capital Publishing Company, Inc. 480. I believe you have attained “customer satisfaction” when customers return to your store because

they want to not because they have to. Richard T. Takata, President & CEO, Eagle Hardware & Garden, Inc. 481. When he opened his first store in 1920, Eddie Bauer, the founder of our company, wrote Our

Creed. Today, nearly three-quarters of a century later, this single statement still exemplifies the meaning of Customer Satisfaction and is our final measurement of success: “To give you such outstanding quality, value, service, and guarantee that we may be worthy of your high esteem.”

Richard Fersch, President, Eddie Bauer, Inc. 482. A journalist told me recently, “You talk so much about customer satisfaction that you’d think

Ford created it.” I told him, “It’s just the opposite: Ford didn’t create customer satisfaction – customer satisfaction created Ford.”

Louis R. Ross, The Ford Motor Company


483. A customer is really satisfied when he or she not only comes back but brings someone with them.

Hyrum W. Smith, Chairman & CEO, Franklin Quest Company 484. I get a thousand opportunities a year to make a decision in favor of the customer. Each time I

blow it, it costs me about $10,000 in lost sales. At that price – of course the customer is always right.

Rick Stewart, Chief Executive Officer, Frontier Cooperative Herbs 485. Did you ever try to outsmart your 17 year old daughter? Well, don’t try to outsmart your

customers, either. Rick Stewart, Chief Executive Officer, Frontier Cooperative Herbs 486. A smile costs nothing --- and in the hospitality industry, it means everything. Bryan D. Lanton, Chairman & CEO, Holiday Inn Worldwide 487. What Hughes Electronics must be more than anything else is “a customer company.” Our

customers will direct our technology. Our customers will determine our diversification. Our customers will dictate our growth.

C. Michael Armstrong, Chairman & CEO, Hughes Electronics Corporation 488. We’ve got to get back to a fundamental issue, and that is: We all work first for the customer. Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., 489. Turn on the customer, make him or her feel special. Treat all customers like you’re darn happy

to have them in the store. Never be satisfied. And you do whatever you need to, right at that point in time, to make sure when that customer leaves that McDonald’s restaurant, he or she is happy.

Michael R. Quinlan, Chairman & CEO, McDonald’s Corporation 490. We exist to serve our customers. In pursuit of this customer satisfaction vision directive we will

understand our customers’ needs and expectations as never before. Based on this knowledge, we will empower our people to respond proactively to serve customers.

D. Richard McFerson, President & CEO, Nationwide Insurance 491. We’d better take care of our customers, or someone else will. Gary Richard, President & CEO, P.C. Richard & Son, Inc. 492. Better, Better, Best. Don’t settle for less, till better is Best. Gary Richard, President & CEO, P.C. Richard and Son, Inc. 493. Do what is right for the customer. Corporate credo, Talbots, Inc. 494. Before you build a better mousetrap, it helps to know if there are any mice out there. Mortimer B. Zuckerman 495. Don’t climb a tree to look for fish.


Chinese proverb 496. Be everywhere, do everything and never fail to astonish the customer. Macy’s motto 497. Can you blame the merchant for selling something to a paying customer? How many shirts do

you have in your closet that you can’t believe you bought? Joseph Grundfest, Stanford University 498. Have you answered more than 10 customer questions today? If so – you are in the customer

service business. Mike Trotter, Purdue University 499. Our customers expect us to be the best because we’re Wal-Mart. For years and years, we’ve told

our customers they can trust us. It’s up to each one of us every day to earn our customer’s trust and respect.

Don Cannon, Senior VP of Food Merchandising 500. A box without sevice is a box. Hp Invent advertisment 501. Freedom, decisiveness, faith, spirit, motivation, leadership, desire, guts, determination, joy,

vision, nerve, tenacity, moxie. No one said running a small business would be easy. SmartAge.com advertisement 502. SO you get this urgent call. It’s your client. “Did my Boise shipment go out?” You’re a

thousand miles from anywhere. You don’t know. “I’ll get back to you.” You call Patricia, the sales manager. She’s not in. So you e-mail her. Then you think, maybe the factory supervisor. You call his assistant. He’s in a meeting. Can he call you back? Your phone rings. It’s the client again. “Did the parts ship, yes or no?” Another call is coming in. You click over. It’s Patricia. She got your e-mail. But she’s in her car. She doesn’t know anyting. You click back over. Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? No Client.

IBM Advertisement 503. So you finally spring for it. The big kahuna. The mother of all gas grills. You get it home. You

put it together. And . . . no flame. The manual says jiggle the gas line. You jiggle. Nothing. You call customer service. They put you on hold. So you wait. And wait. And listen to polka. And not just any polka. Synthesized polka. HELP. You just have a quick question. It’s getting dark. The kids are starving. Now they want tacos. “Can we go get tacos?!” WHAT THE HECK, YOU THINK. YOU’LL BE OUT ANYWAY. RETURNING the STUPID GRILL.

IBM Advertisement 504. Click Some Butt. Adauction.com advertisement 505. How long do your Internet customers wait for a response? Customers who don’t get support

become someone else’s customers. Brigade advertisement


506. When you realize that your customers are just like you, the whole dynamic of your interaction

with them changes. Elizabeth Spaulding, LL Bean, Inc. 507. There were a few reasons we chose Broadvision to personalize and integrate our e-business. The

customer, the customer, the customer. Broadvision advertisement 508. To find your way through the maze of auto insurance, just follow this highly detailed, step-by-

step guide. STEP 1. esurance.com esurance advertisement 509. It’s Marketing 101. You gotta use e-mails and you’ve gotta customize them. Jeff Steinberg, MotherNature’s chief marketing officer 510. You’ve been waiting for someone to act like a partner, not a vendor. You’ve been waiting for an Internet that lives up to its potential. You’ve been waiting for an e-business approach that’s complete and fully integrated. You’ve been waiting for someone to help reduce time to market. You’ve been waiting for a way to simplify e-business ifrastructure. You’ve been waiting for someone that can make your life easier. You’ve been waiting for a partner that solves your problems rather than pushes their products. You’ve been waiting for someone who won’t disappear once they install. You’ve been waiting for solutions that won’t become obsolete the second your company grows. The wait is over. Genuity is here. www. Genuity.com Genuity advertisement 511. “ICEBERG? WHAT ICEBERG?” Or, the importance of being mission-ready. Interworld advertisement 512. But I don’t need my toothpaste delivered.com KilltheDot.com BlowtheDotOutYourAss.cor advertisement 513. Shopping on the Net isn’t about clicks. It’s about what happens when you click. Doug Keeley, in The Industry Standard March 20, 2000 514. WWI WWII WWW. Interland advertisement 515. The average Internet download takes 22 seconds. That’s 22 seconds longer than a 10-year-old

wants to wait. Lucent Technology advertisement

Why should I wait longer for an Internet web site than I do a McDonalds drive through order?


516. Simple to the point of “duh.” Hewlett-Packard advertisement 517. The Taj Mahal was built to last forever. Does your company share the same vision? Epoch advertisement 518. Technology catches the eye. Brand wins the heart. Leo Burnett 519. We don’t have 120 years to sit around and wait for our brand to develop. We need to distinguish

ourselves now – to show that we’re edgier and out front. Evelyn Ashley, Red Hot Law Group 520. You have 90 days to take your company to the internet. Tick. Tick. Tick. KPMG Consulting advertisement 521. Our restaurants are about more than food. They’re about inclusiveness, value, comfort, trust,

and relationships. Lou Kaucic, Applebee’s 522. We thought that we were selling the transportation of goods; in fact, we were selling peace of

mind. Frederick W. Smith, Fedex Corp. 523. Timex is interested in the real estate of the wrist. It’s location, location, location. The wrist is

the most exciting and accessible place on the body. Susie Watson, Timex Corp. 524. My favorite question for entrepreneurs is, “What is a typical day in the life of your customer?”

Because if you don’t understand what your customer does at 8 a.m., 4 p.m., or 8 p.m., you don’t know how your product fits into their life.

Yogen Dalal, Mayfield Fund 525. Science is helping us all live longer. What a great time to develop a customer loyalty program. United States Postal Service advertisement 526. Solve a problem..help one customr. Fix a process help thousands.

Charles Scwabb 527. Questions provide feedback about which values should be attended to and how much energy

should be devoted to them. What questions should we be asking if we want people to focus on integrity? On trust? On customer/client satisfaction? On quality? On innovation? On growth? On personal responsibility?

Kouzes Posner, “The Leadership Challenge”


528. Notice how customers use your products and services, then figure out how to make it easier for them to do so. Adjust your practices and pricing to support the ways in which customers want to use your products.

Patricia B. Seybold, “The Customer Revolution” 529. Customers want to take ownership and control over the products and services they purchase and

use. By offering them services that make it easy for them to better manage their assets, you’ll build closer relationships with them.

Patricia B. Seybold, “The Customer Revolution” 530. Many customers also want to “strut their stuff.” Think about how your products and services

can make your customers look good. Give them ways to amplify that experience. Patricia B. Seybold, “The Customer Revolution” 531. The Tipping Point is the biography of an idea, and the idea is very simple. It is that the best way

to understand the emergence of fashion trends, the ebb and flow of crime waves, or, for that matter, the transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth, or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do.

Malcolm Gladwell, “The Tipping Point” 532. Customers really notice consistent execution. We’ve already talked a lot about delivering a

consistent branded experience across interaction touchpoints and distribution channels. Now let’s talk about what’s required to execute that in delivering products and services.

Patricia B. Seybold, “The Customer Revolution” 533. Very simply, understanding consumer behavior is good business. A basic marketing concept

states that firms exist to satisfy consumers’ needs. These needs can only be satisfied to the extent that marketers understand the people or organizations that will use the products and services they are trying to sell, and that they do so better than their competitors.

Michael R. Solomon, “Consumer Behavior” 534. Marketers have realized that a key to success is building relationships between brands and

customers that will last a lifetime. Michael R. Solomon, “Customer Behavior” 535. Asking for more information requires listening with an open mind and making a genuine effort

to understand the criticism. When the customer provides additional information, it is helpful for the salesperson to check perceptions and actively listen to verify an understanding of the new information.

“Professional Selling” 536. You’re either part of the solution or part of the problem. Eldridge Cleaver 537. All that matters is value – the ultimate value of what one does. James Hilton


538. The customer is always right. Unk539. The enormous surplus of retail facilities guarantees that the customer is king. “The Retail Environment” 540. Consumption is just as much shaped by the supply side as by demand. At the ballpark people

pay high prices for lousy hotdogs because that’s all there is. If health food stores replaced taverns we would all live longer. Consumers are constrained to buy the goods available at the locations available.

“The Retail Environment” 541. A fundamental approach to customer service can be continuously applied at all business levels. Unknown 542. Establishing technology standards-creating a “franchise”-in the software business is the key to

market domination and to financial success. “Selling Microsoft” 543. When you are skinning your customers you should leave some skin to grow again so you can

skin them again Nikita Khrushchev 544. Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem – in my opinion – to characterize our age. Albert Einstein 545. A salespersons most overlooked resource is their own creativity. Unknown 546. Creating a positive atmosphere at customer meetings is the best way to ensure that your

customers will interact with you in a positive, constructive way. “Selling Microsoft” 547. There’s always a better way to do everything. It’s up to you to find it. Thomas Edison 548. If you always have a smile on your face the customer will never know how much you really hate

them. Ryan Postlewaite- Purdue Student 549. It’s one thing for people to buy your products. It’s another for them to tattoo your products

name on their bodies. Harley-Davidson 550. Virtual Vineyard.com is now Wine.com. Wake the dog, call the neighbors! Wine.com advertisement


551. It’s one thing for people to buy your products. It’s another for them to tattoo your product’s name on their bodies.

Harley Davidson 552. Get in, get out, get on with your life. Chili’s 553. If you notice that someone has stolen all your stuff you can call the cops. Yet right now when

you are not paying attention one of your employees is losing your customers…You not only let them do it, you let them do it again…and again…and again.

Richard Feinberg, Purdue University 554. The Kotler Doctrine:

1965-1980: RAF (ready.aim.fire.) 1980-1995: RFA (ready.fire.aim) 1995-????: FFF (fire!fire!fire!)

Tom Peters 555. We tend to forget who pays our salaries. It’s the customer. We should remind ourselves

constantly that we need to deliver what they want. And we need to be able to deliver different things to different customers. The minute we forget that, the reason for our being is gone.

Lars Nyberg, CEO of NCR 556. It is not unusual for Feider’s customers to describe her as a force of nature. This is not because

they feel presured by her but because after they her many soon find themselves in the grip of musical ambitions they never knew they harbored. These ambitions often include buying a specific piano that they feel they can no longer live without, even if it strains both their living rooms and their bank accounts.

The New Yorker Magazine 557. Every hour, 10 diamond rings, 120 PC’s and 1,200 articles of clothing are sold on eBay. A

Corvette is sold on the site every three hours. M. Whitman, CEO of eBay 558. Meg Speaks, not just the CEO, she’s also a customer. Miguel Helft, The Industry Standard 559. Good service is memorable service. You have five senses. Good service is the sixth. Ali Kasikci, Penisula Beverly Hills Hotel 600. It’s not the site…It’s the stuff Richard Feinberg, Purdue University 601. Stores fail to be honest with consumers, shoppers fail to treat retail workers like human beings,

bosses fail to help employees…employees fail to help one another and most of all the employee fails to find a way to fit in, make the sale, satisfy his bosses or his customers. Or himself.

Rob Walker NYTimes Book review of Selling Ben Cheever


602. You know a lot about your customers. You know who they are, where they live, what their buying habits are. And if you’re like most companies, you’ve done absolutely nothing with that pile of market intelligence. It just sits there, earning you no money and creating zero shareholder value.

Larry Seldon and Geoffrey Colvin, Fast Company 603. There’s always room for improvement. It’s the biggest room in the house. Louise Heath Leber 604. In business, the competition will bite you if you keep running. If you stand still, they will

swallow you. William Knudsen 605. The highest of distinctions is service to others. King George VI 606. I remember one caller who said..”I’d like to get this stuff from Chicago to Atlanta in two

days…and we said..”We can get it there in three days”. The customer thanked us and hung up. We didn’t think there was anything wrong with that. The attitude was if you don’t like what we do, too bad.”

Bill Zolars, CEP Yellow Freight System 607. If you believe you’re in the business of serving the customer better, then you have to move the

center of gravity of the organization to where the business meets the customers. Feargal Quinn, Superquinn Supermarket 608. GAK---God Alone Knows Tom Peters 609. SAV---Screw around vigorously Tom Peters 610. For things I do today, the computer is often confusing. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, discussing the future 611. I demand clarity. If I can’t easily find what I’m looking for on a site map or with the search

feature, I don’t have the patience to wade through a site for it. Jason Kuperman, Zombo.com 612. Xerox was considered to be the company of the century, but I knew better. There it was, all in

one place: the bureaucracy, the great strategy that never got implemented, the slavish attention to numbers rather than to people, the reverence for MBAs – you name it. If it could be done wrong, Xerox was doing it wrong.

Tom Peters 613. The CEO of General Motors announced that GM wasn’t in the business of making cars, it was in

the business of making money. (This came as a shock to most of GM’s customers, who were in the market to buy a car—or even better, a way of life—not to spend money).


Tom Peters 614. Your customers are looking for new ways to access your call center. Is this the message you are

sending them….www.getlost.com Ad for Nortel Networks 615. The Internet changes everything – but it doesn’t change everything overnight. Janey Place Mellon 616. Good service is MEMORABLE SERVICE. You have five senses. Good service is the sixth. Ali Kasika, Penisula Beverly Hills Hotel 617. Don’t make people wait to check out. Stay in stock on items you’re supposed to have. Train

salespeople to know the merchandise and be helpful and friendly. If you have shopping carts, make sure they have four round wheels.

Brad Leland, Newton, Mass 618. Even car dealers know that sooner or later, the last stupid customer is going to walk through the

door.” Mark Lorimer, CEO of Autobytel 619. Some people want customers who click. I want customers who buy. Flycast Advertisement 620. This is a very simple business. When we complicate it we really mess things up. People always

ask me, “What’s your strategy for growth?” I always say it’s simple. I tell people don’t make it too complicated. Each day we must make Coca-Cola more acceptable, more available, more affordable to more people in more situations than the day before. Put another way, success largely depends on our ability to make it impossible for the consumer to escape Coca-Cola.

Roberto Goizueta, Beverage Digest Interview, 1991 621. We thought the creation and operation of web sites was mysterious, Nobel Prize stuff, the

province of the wild-eyed and purle-haired. Any company, old or new, that does not see this technology as literally as important as breathing could be on its last breath.

Jack Welch 622. You don’t have to spend your time visiting everybody. Just see the customers who will give you

good feedback. Kay yun, Yuninetworks Inc. 623. The window of opportunity doesn’t stay open for very long. That’s why as soon as we’ve

defined a compelling product, we devot all of our energies to blasting through that window… Bill Hunt, Raza Foundries Inc. 624. There are thousands of people who can help you improve your site. They’re called users. Jackie Cohen and Maryann Jones Thompson


625. What will be the top three qualities of successful Internet companies next year? (1) luck; (2) luck; (3) luck.

James Fallows, Industry Standard columnist and author 626. There were a few reasons we chose Broadvision to personalize and integrate our e-busines: THE

CUSTOMER, The Customer, the customer. BroadVision advertisement 627. If the Internet doesn’t make business easier, what’s the point? Pedestal 628. The road to online success is paved with the short sighted, the slow and the unprepared. Gordon Brooks, President and CEO, Breakaway Solutions 629. I go there because they have everything and their prices are great.

Mark haines CNBC 4/9/02 commenting on a Prudential Analysts report that Wal-Mart is well positioned for growth because of their fixtures and lighting and cement floors.

630. How does the lender end up the leader in customer satisfaction? Easy. One happy customer at a

time. Countrywide Home Loans Advantage

customer service · pdf filecustomer satisfaction graffiti richard feinberg, ... caring,...

Documents