Managing the Customer Experience: Turning Customers into Advocates

Refreshing and practical. Managing the Customer Experience shows companies how to build the power of their brand. Wheeler and Smith inspire your organization to deliver a different and more valuable offering to your targeted customers.

Bradley T. Gale, author of Managing Customer Value and President, Customer Value, Inc.

Delivering customers a consistently superior set of benefits is probably the most important driver of value creation. This book provides a number of practical insights which will guide the reader on the difficult but fascinating path leading to great customer value delivery.

Jean-Claude Larreche, The Alfred H. Heineken Professor of Marketing, INSEAD

A fascinating and insightful book which is equally relevant for the leaders of professional services firms looking to build `trusted advisor' relationships with their key clients.

Michael Bray, Chief Executive, Clifford Chance

Managing the Customer Experience is an incredibly practical guide for building customer loyalty in the new century.

Marshall Goldsmith - Founding Director of the Financial Times Knowledge Dialogue and the Alliance for Strategic Leadership.

Smith and Wheeler show us what the 21st Century Company has to look like if it is to be successful. They show that great brands are not primarily built through advertising but by the experience and value they offer customers.

Professor Peter Doyle, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick

This book shows how to unlock the full value potential of the customer experience, supported by a wealth of examples from world leaders such as Tesco and Harley-Davidson. The connection made between the Marketing, Human Resources and Customer Service functions is very powerful. This, combined with the emphasis on the role of leadership, makes Managing the Customer Experience required reading for CEO's, Marketing, Human Resource, and Operations Directors, and their teams.

William Gordon, Strategy Partner, Accenture and co-author of Brand Manners.

In their book, Managing the Customer Experience, the authors bring forward the concept of loyalty and advocacy in customer experience in a very targeted way ... unearthing one of the most essential branding rules, which is to make your preferred customers your best ambassadors.

Marc Gobe, President and Executive Creative Director, Desgrippes Gobe Group, author of Emotional Branding: the New Paradigm for Connecting Brands to People.

If you are interested in increasing customer loyalty, Managing the Customer Experience is the book for you. Most books on the subject focus on your company's image and tell why it's important. This book makes the business case for branding but then shows you how to do it. Full of practical how to advice, illustrative anecdotes, and application exercises, it is not only a good read, but a significant investment in your future success.

Richard Whiteley, author of The Customer Driven Company

Managing the Customer Experience provides a comprehensive blueprint for any organization that wants to deliver a customer experience that supports and builds its brand. Smith and Wheeler bring this intriguing concept to life through a well-researched variety of examples, insights, methods, and tools. Don't just read this book - use it!

Scott Timmins, Vice President, College Marketing, Millea Hall, Babson College

Shaun Smith, Senior Vice President, Customer Experience Practice, Forum Europe, an FT Knowledge Company

Shaun is one of the leading consultants in helping organizations differentiate through customer service and deliver their brand through their people. He is an inspirational presenter with a wealth of worldwide practical experience. He has been featured on the `Ask The Expert' program on CNBC a number of times and is the co-editor of the book Uncommon Practice: People who deliver a great brand experience. He is also the author of the Organizational Alignment Survey (TM) used by companies worldwide to assess employee opinions and assess the need for change.

Shaun began his career in the airline industry becoming Head of Customer Service, Sales and Marketing Training world-wide for British Airways. He became Managing-Director of Cathay-Performa consulting specializing in advising airlines on customer service strategies. Shaun then ran his own company, Service Skills International, based in Hong Kong, for eleven years consulting to many leading international companies before joining Forum.

Joe Wheeler, Executive Vice President, Customer Experience Practice, Forum, an FT Knowledge Company

Joe Wheeler is based in Forum's Boston office and leads the firm's Customer Experience consulting practice. Over the years he has led many Branded Customer Experience (R) client engagements that have achieved significant business results. Organizations that Joe has worked with include Unilever, RBC Financial, Air Products, Fairmount Hotels, Nortel Networks, FleetBoston, AT&T, and Dow Corning.

A sought-after speaker, he has provided keynote addresses to business executives around the world, including presentations for The Conference Board and various industry associations.