Book Review: What Customers Crave

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

What Customers Crave: How to Create Relevant and Memorable Experiences at Every Touchpoint

By: Nicholas Webb

Copyright 2017 Amacom

Price $25.00

Pages: 257 with end notes an index 

Customer service is out and customer experience is in. It’s not enough to deliver great customer service anymore— instead you must deliver an entire customer experience and a great experience at that. Customers want to feel good about the very act of working with you. They want to feel that you are on their side; and that you have their best interests at heart. 

They want to "crave" working with you, and if you don’t quite understand what customers crave…then you’d better read this book. 

This book goes beyond traditional thoughts about service. In the first part, Webb discusses something we have all become aware of, and that is creating customer value. He points out that it is much more effective to keep a customer happy than it is to get a new customer. From the book, “…probability of selling to a new prospect is 5– 20% percent, while the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60–70% percent.” 

Webb goes on to explain just how we can provide value to our customers. He describes in detail how to create a customer confidence in you, your company and your products and services. 

This is one of those books that incites great thoughts and ideas by giving you “triggers” to get you thinking about customers in a way you have not before. He shows you how to put yourself in their place and grow your understanding of how they view you and your company, and most importantly, what they expect from you. 

I especially like this section in the book: “Make an upset customer a lifelong customer in five easy steps.” From the book:

1. Affirm: Create a complete understanding of the problem and what it means to the customer.
2. Listen: Shut up and listen and hear exactly what the customer is saying to you.
3. Confirm: Repeat back to the customer what the problem is so that he understands that you understand…that you get it.
4. Fix: You know what the problem is, now fix it.
5. Follow up: Make sure that the problem is solved and the customer is completely satisfied. 

I would add one of my own and that is to do all of this as quickly as possible so that the situation is alleviated in the blink of an eye. Doing this will in fact make the customer respect you for life. 

There is much too much in this book to cover it all here, including great information on learning everything you can about your customers, getting referrals and recommendations. 

This is a must-read for anyone who is serious about customer service and retention…and who isn’t?

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