13 Sep, 2010
24 Hour Customer: New Rules for Winning in a Time-Starved, Always-Connected Economy by Adrian Ott
When we think about our customers being always-connected, it means much more than just how the customer service department is organized. This book looks at how the product offerings take into account how we live today. How does your brand interact with that? Are you in their face or a silent partner? Customers consider not just the cost, but the time it will take to switch or sign up. Incorporate the customer’s time into your mix, and see what kind of home run you can create.
I talk to Adrian about how time affects how we do business, the difficulty of being a silent partner, the scoop on bundling, and more.
More about the book at http://24HourCustomer.com/.
3 Sep, 2010
The Corporate Lattice : Achieving High Performance In the Changing World of Work by Cathy Benko
Cathy challenges idea that success is climbing the corporate ladder. A career can be in all directions and still be considered a success because we are no longer in the industrial age. Nowadays, its about information. How it flows, how we collaborate, how things get done. Organizations that hold to the old model miss out on the innovation and the idea that the only way to contribute is to be on the upward climb.
I talk to Cathy about the ladder, the work-from-anywhere workforce and what that means, and more.
More about the book at http://corporatelattice.com/.
14 Aug, 2010
Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Greg McKeown
Business leaders can be Multipliers, who make people better or Diminishers, those who think mostly about themselves and in return, get less from the people around them. What’s stunning about this is not that multipliers are more effective, but the reality of how much more effective they are. “Innovation” and “Competitive Advantage” are hot topics, yet here is a strategy to double the output without doubling the cost.
More about the book at http://MultipliersBook.com. In the Resource area they have additional materials to help you get the most from the book.
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
