23 Jul, 2010
Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh
Tony chronicles his journey of getting Zappos to a billion dollars in retail sales while creating the brand to mean extreme customer service. He’s candid about making many mistakes along the way. Through it, he found that making customers (and employees) happy was the way for him to take the company to new heights.
I talk with Tony about critical decisions, the reasoning behind allowing customer service an open mic on Twitter, and more.
More about the book at DeliveringHappinessBook.com. And if you happen to need a pair of shoes, how about Zappos?
7 Jul, 2010
The Referral Engine by John Jantsch
Getting a referral is one big huge complement for your business and we want them. Although rather than just wanting it, we have to go after it by making the business referable. A rote transaction, while better than a nightmare, won’t go far in having others talk about and recommend you to others. You’ve got to give them something to talk about. John writes about how to do that, and then how to harness your customers to refer business to you.
I talk with John about discovering who is likely to refer, local vs. online networking, how the book is divided up and more.
John is at DuctTapeMarketing.com. More about the book at ReferralEngineBook.com
22 Jun, 2010
The Language of Trust by Michael Maslansky
Are you more skeptical than you used to be? Does the phrase “free trial offer” cause you to consider how convenient it will be to try it out or does it make you wonder how difficult it will be to have the company stop bothering you when you want to tell them ‘no’? We can become excited over the next marketing campaign because it’s so polished and logical, but fail to remember the people we’re trying to reach are hesitant to receive our message. In this book, Michael examines how the words we choose impact how the customer responds.
I talk with Michael about the deterioration of trust, an example of how this works, his take on what JetBlue did in the midst of crisis, and more.
More about the book at LanguageOfTrust.com
27 May, 2010
Flip the Funnel by Joseph Jaffe
The traditional marketing funnel had its issues in the past, but revisiting it again, Joseph articulates how the whole thing seems ridiculous these days. We spend a lot of money marketing to new customers. Wouldn’t it be wiser to focus on your existing base, and find ways to energize them? Not only will they return, but some will spread the word for you.
I talk with Joe about the funnel, customer service, and whether you segment levels of service, or treat everyone the same.
More about the book at FlipTheFunnelNow.com. Not to mention jaffejuice.com, which I’m sure you already know about.
17 May, 2010
The 1% Windfall by Rafi Mohammed
If we aren’t careful, pricing can be like a pendulum with large across-the-board increases or discounts. There’s a line for every customer, and getting the right amount of profit for each is the thesis of this book. The beauty of this is, increased profits for your company may not be from the endless pursuit to cut costs or restructuring. Rafi lays out 50 different ways you can increase your profits a little at a time. Now 1% may not sound intriguing, but consider this: if Wal-mart increased it’s profit by 1%, it would mean billions more in profit.
I talk with Rafi about how this works, bringing dormant customers back into the fold, and how to compensate salespeople.
More about the book at PricingForProfit.com.
