In this quick read, co-authors Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles begin by establishing that “Satisfied customers just aren’t good enough,” and the three principles to creating Raving Fans, as delivered by a Fairy Godmother named Charlie, are as follows:
- Develop an ideal vision of your service
- Without a goal it’s impossible to know when you’re off course
- Continually engage your customer’s on their ideal vision of the service, giving special attention to overlaps and clashes
- Learn where customers place the greatest value, and either adjust your vision to accommodate, and recognize when their needs would be better served somewhere else
- Consistently deliver on your promises and improve the service with minor adjustments
- Continual customer engagement keeps you in touch with trending needs and enables nimble adjustments to your service 1
While these points cover the major ideas in the book, there are several happy workplace nuggets of wisdom that make this a worthwhile read. Still unsure? Check out this free preview of Raving Fans.
Principles in Action
As I read this book, I found myself comparing it to the 37signals philosophy, and specifically to the recently released customer feedback application called Smiley.
Notes:
- a perfect marriage of ideology with agile development ↩
