A quick and easy read, 17 Oct 2008
Written in the now familiar 'One Minute Manager' parable style this book is a quick and easy read. It contains some good thought provoking commentary on the subject of customer service. As with other Blanchard titles this is a good book to use to spread the word in your organisation as it is compact and concise enough for anyone to read easily and quickly.
I use a lot of stories when training people as it helps the key messages to be absorbed easily - as is the case with this book.

Simon Hazeldine Author of 'Bare Knuckle Customer Service', 'Bare Knuckle Selling' and 'Bare Knuckle Negotiating'.

I'm a raving fan of this book!, 06 Aug 2008
What a great book! A simple and fast read with key messages that anyone can implement in their jobs. I'm about to become one of those annoying managers who buys a copy for everyone in their team.

Convincing read about satisfying customers, 01 Jul 2007
I read this book after having read Gung Ho! by the same authors. While not being as good as that book, this is an excellent read about how you make and keep your customers not only satisfied but happy supporters of the services you provide. Like Gung Ho! the book is structured as a story where you follow the protagonist on an enlightening trip around businesses that have one thing in common: they all not only have satisfied customers, they have raving fans of their businesses. You'd better like the storytelling aspect of the book or you might not become a raving fan of the authors... Good, enlightening and entertaining read done in one lazy evening.

Cultism At It's Very Best, 17 May 2007
This book has reached cult like status in our office !!! So much so that a cult around it is actually starting to develop !!! This cult exhibits the usual charectaristics of a cult, and of course they seem to love it!!!!!! I'm sure I'll see them on Jeremy Kyle soon though.....either that or CNN.


GREAT MODEL TO APPROACH PERFECTION THROUGH INNOVATION, 28 May 2004
In a world of almost no service, RAVING FANS takes the opposite perspective -- that virtually perfect service is worth pursuing. Those who are used to providing and suffering from having no service will find this book impossible to comprehend. I found it inspiring.

A major problem with most books on management processes is that that do too little to focus on how to make large amounts of progress beyond what is now done. RAVING FANS is a big success in providing you with simple instructions for making large strides toward achievable perfection in providing service.

Imagining perfection is a critical first step to improvement, yet most people have never thought about what that could mean. Then testing that perfection with customers (and potential customers) must be done to be sure that there is a valid opportunity, and to be able to understand customers' ideas about achievable perfection. Then attaching the idea of continuous improvement toward that vision is also valuable, and useful.

There are plenty of practical tips about how to do each part in RAVING FANS, which is key to making this book so valuable.

One of the reasons that I enjoy writing reviews about books on-line is that I can find a book like RAVING FANS that agrees so much with my own perspective and research. This book will quickly get you past your Psychology of Disbelief, Bureaucracy, Procrastination, Communiation, and Ugly Duckling stalls. Good for Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles . . . and good for you, too! Even better for your customers!

If you like this book, be sure to go on to read GUNG HO, the second book in the series, which deals with getting employees fired up to produce great service for Raving Fans. The third book in the series, BIG BUCKS!, just came out, and is a worthwhile successor to the first two. I suggest you read all three if you have a business or aspire to have one that provides well for employees, customers, and owners.

A good related book is THE CUSTOMER CENTERED COMPANY by Richard Whiteley.

A quick and easy read, 17 Oct 2008
Written in the now familiar 'One Minute Manager' parable style this book is a quick and easy read. It contains some good thought provoking commentary on the subject of customer service. As with other Blanchard titles this is a good book to use to spread the word in your organisation as it is compact and concise enough for anyone to read easily and quickly.
I use a lot of stories when training people as it helps the key messages to be absorbed easily - as is the case with this book.

Simon Hazeldine Author of 'Bare Knuckle Customer Service', 'Bare Knuckle Selling' and 'Bare Knuckle Negotiating'.

I'm a raving fan of this book!, 06 Aug 2008
What a great book! A simple and fast read with key messages that anyone can implement in their jobs. I'm about to become one of those annoying managers who buys a copy for everyone in their team.

Convincing read about satisfying customers, 01 Jul 2007
I read this book after having read Gung Ho! by the same authors. While not being as good as that book, this is an excellent read about how you make and keep your customers not only satisfied but happy supporters of the services you provide. Like Gung Ho! the book is structured as a story where you follow the protagonist on an enlightening trip around businesses that have one thing in common: they all not only have satisfied customers, they have raving fans of their businesses. You'd better like the storytelling aspect of the book or you might not become a raving fan of the authors... Good, enlightening and entertaining read done in one lazy evening.

Cultism At It's Very Best, 17 May 2007
This book has reached cult like status in our office !!! So much so that a cult around it is actually starting to develop !!! This cult exhibits the usual charectaristics of a cult, and of course they seem to love it!!!!!! I'm sure I'll see them on Jeremy Kyle soon though.....either that or CNN.


GREAT MODEL TO APPROACH PERFECTION THROUGH INNOVATION, 28 May 2004
In a world of almost no service, RAVING FANS takes the opposite perspective -- that virtually perfect service is worth pursuing. Those who are used to providing and suffering from having no service will find this book impossible to comprehend. I found it inspiring.

A major problem with most books on management processes is that that do too little to focus on how to make large amounts of progress beyond what is now done. RAVING FANS is a big success in providing you with simple instructions for making large strides toward achievable perfection in providing service.

Imagining perfection is a critical first step to improvement, yet most people have never thought about what that could mean. Then testing that perfection with customers (and potential customers) must be done to be sure that there is a valid opportunity, and to be able to understand customers' ideas about achievable perfection. Then attaching the idea of continuous improvement toward that vision is also valuable, and useful.

There are plenty of practical tips about how to do each part in RAVING FANS, which is key to making this book so valuable.

One of the reasons that I enjoy writing reviews about books on-line is that I can find a book like RAVING FANS that agrees so much with my own perspective and research. This book will quickly get you past your Psychology of Disbelief, Bureaucracy, Procrastination, Communiation, and Ugly Duckling stalls. Good for Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles . . . and good for you, too! Even better for your customers!

If you like this book, be sure to go on to read GUNG HO, the second book in the series, which deals with getting employees fired up to produce great service for Raving Fans. The third book in the series, BIG BUCKS!, just came out, and is a worthwhile successor to the first two. I suggest you read all three if you have a business or aspire to have one that provides well for employees, customers, and owners.

A good related book is THE CUSTOMER CENTERED COMPANY by Richard Whiteley.

Top Notch!, 27 Nov 2008
I bought this book to use at work, as part of my job involves Customer Services. It was brilliant (in fact I read it all in one go) and it now lives under my desk! The opening chapter deals with general basics which are a useful reminder, however it's the rest of the book that earns its stripes. Just about every situation you could think of is presented clearly and concisely, each to a separate page, with examples of how a conversation may go and how to respond. I've encountered some super tricky Customers (you know who you are!) and this book has shown me how to handle them all.
I've now changed my Customer 'scripts' to fit in with the book and this has proved very successful, with some great feedback from happy Customers. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in this area.

A quick and easy read, 17 Oct 2008
Written in the now familiar 'One Minute Manager' parable style this book is a quick and easy read. It contains some good thought provoking commentary on the subject of customer service. As with other Blanchard titles this is a good book to use to spread the word in your organisation as it is compact and concise enough for anyone to read easily and quickly.
I use a lot of stories when training people as it helps the key messages to be absorbed easily - as is the case with this book.

Simon Hazeldine Author of 'Bare Knuckle Customer Service', 'Bare Knuckle Selling' and 'Bare Knuckle Negotiating'.

I'm a raving fan of this book!, 06 Aug 2008
What a great book! A simple and fast read with key messages that anyone can implement in their jobs. I'm about to become one of those annoying managers who buys a copy for everyone in their team.

Convincing read about satisfying customers, 01 Jul 2007
I read this book after having read Gung Ho! by the same authors. While not being as good as that book, this is an excellent read about how you make and keep your customers not only satisfied but happy supporters of the services you provide. Like Gung Ho! the book is structured as a story where you follow the protagonist on an enlightening trip around businesses that have one thing in common: they all not only have satisfied customers, they have raving fans of their businesses. You'd better like the storytelling aspect of the book or you might not become a raving fan of the authors... Good, enlightening and entertaining read done in one lazy evening.

Cultism At It's Very Best, 17 May 2007
This book has reached cult like status in our office !!! So much so that a cult around it is actually starting to develop !!! This cult exhibits the usual charectaristics of a cult, and of course they seem to love it!!!!!! I'm sure I'll see them on Jeremy Kyle soon though.....either that or CNN.


GREAT MODEL TO APPROACH PERFECTION THROUGH INNOVATION, 28 May 2004
In a world of almost no service, RAVING FANS takes the opposite perspective -- that virtually perfect service is worth pursuing. Those who are used to providing and suffering from having no service will find this book impossible to comprehend. I found it inspiring.

A major problem with most books on management processes is that that do too little to focus on how to make large amounts of progress beyond what is now done. RAVING FANS is a big success in providing you with simple instructions for making large strides toward achievable perfection in providing service.

Imagining perfection is a critical first step to improvement, yet most people have never thought about what that could mean. Then testing that perfection with customers (and potential customers) must be done to be sure that there is a valid opportunity, and to be able to understand customers' ideas about achievable perfection. Then attaching the idea of continuous improvement toward that vision is also valuable, and useful.

There are plenty of practical tips about how to do each part in RAVING FANS, which is key to making this book so valuable.

One of the reasons that I enjoy writing reviews about books on-line is that I can find a book like RAVING FANS that agrees so much with my own perspective and research. This book will quickly get you past your Psychology of Disbelief, Bureaucracy, Procrastination, Communiation, and Ugly Duckling stalls. Good for Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles . . . and good for you, too! Even better for your customers!

If you like this book, be sure to go on to read GUNG HO, the second book in the series, which deals with getting employees fired up to produce great service for Raving Fans. The third book in the series, BIG BUCKS!, just came out, and is a worthwhile successor to the first two. I suggest you read all three if you have a business or aspire to have one that provides well for employees, customers, and owners.

A good related book is THE CUSTOMER CENTERED COMPANY by Richard Whiteley.

Top Notch!, 27 Nov 2008
I bought this book to use at work, as part of my job involves Customer Services. It was brilliant (in fact I read it all in one go) and it now lives under my desk! The opening chapter deals with general basics which are a useful reminder, however it's the rest of the book that earns its stripes. Just about every situation you could think of is presented clearly and concisely, each to a separate page, with examples of how a conversation may go and how to respond. I've encountered some super tricky Customers (you know who you are!) and this book has shown me how to handle them all.
I've now changed my Customer 'scripts' to fit in with the book and this has proved very successful, with some great feedback from happy Customers. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in this area.

The Lieutenant Columbo Approach, 05 Nov 2008
Service excellence comes in many shapes and forms. The essence of the service concept is a relationship with the customer that goes above and beyond their expectations or the market norm. David Maister has introduced the nuts and bolts of building such a relationship in The Trusted Advisor.
He looks at the concept of getting closer to customers from an interpersonal point of view as well as a highly practical point of view.
His strength is in bringing to life concepts that could be handled clumsily in a very easy and relevant read.
My particular favourite is chapter 17, the Lieutenant Columbo Approach. Whilst time goes by and many are not familiar with this icon of American television, for those of us that grew up with Columbo, his less than immaculate dress sense, remnants of a cigar and slightly tilted gestures there is an unmistakable empathy with Maister's presentation of the character's genius. Columbo effectively made the bad guy trip himself up with a seemingly naive curiosity in his questioning style, lulling the alleged criminal into a state of openness; an honesty that would eventually prove to be their downfall.
Without doubt, a fantastic read and 'how-to' book on getting close to your most important focal point, your customers, and turning the relationship from transactional into transformational, from merely being a 'supplier' to a trusted advisor.
It remains a 'best-seller' amongst our customers who consistently rate it as one of their favourites.

Good stuff, 14 Jan 2008
This book covers the subject at a theoretical level, but also complements that with checklists of things to do/not do(thoughtfully repeated together in an Appendix). The examples drawn from the authors' own experience are also more relevant and substantial than is often the case. This is a book that won't just be useful once, but which will bear referring to again and again.

Valuable Tips and Insights, 08 Feb 2007
The key theme for the book, the Trust Equation is actually in the middle of the book. The first part of the book leads up to it by framing the issue of trust and what a trusted adviser is. The second part, starting with the Trust Equation gives some structure to the challenge of building trust whilst the third part is all about putting trust to work.

It contain loads of tips and ideas to help anyone who needs or wants to become a "trusted adviser" and it will be of particular interest to lawyers, accountants, account managers, consultants, tax advisers, business coaches etc. -- anyone in a long term relationship with a client.

A really good book -- but I didn't actually finish it, partly because I had got enough out of it, and also partly because the format seemed a bit repetetive. Well worth the money spent though!

Clear directions on creating trust, 07 Jun 2006
Being trusted by their clients separates successful advisors and consultants from the corporate consigliores. But how does a qualified advisor become trusted? Authors David H. Maister, Charles H. Green and Robert M. Galford provide methods you can use to reach the inner circle. They break trust into its component parts and reassemble those pieces into a viable, practical model, complete with suggested conversations. That may sound a little robotic, but with practice, an advisor can make the transition from outside technician to habitué of the inner sanctum. This readable book includes a useful appendix and a list of quick references. We recommend it to consultants and professional service providers. We trust you'll know what to do with it.

A good book for business employees/consultants, 03 Jun 2003
The Trusted Advisor was on a recommended reading list for the ISEB exam in IS Consultancy. I brought this book to help me with my studies, but have also found it very useful in everyday life. It reopens your eyes into how you should conduct yourself every day to gain peoples / customers trust. Each section has a set of bullet points relating to it for easy reference. The content would work for business employees and consultants.

A quick and easy read, 17 Oct 2008
Written in the now familiar 'One Minute Manager' parable style this book is a quick and easy read. It contains some good thought provoking commentary on the subject of customer service. As with other Blanchard titles this is a good book to use to spread the word in your organisation as it is compact and concise enough for anyone to read easily and quickly.
I use a lot of stories when training people as it helps the key messages to be absorbed easily - as is the case with this book.

Simon Hazeldine Author of 'Bare Knuckle Customer Service', 'Bare Knuckle Selling' and 'Bare Knuckle Negotiating'.

I'm a raving fan of this book!, 06 Aug 2008
What a great book! A simple and fast read with key messages that anyone can implement in their jobs. I'm about to become one of those annoying managers who buys a copy for everyone in their team.

Convincing read about satisfying customers, 01 Jul 2007
I read this book after having read Gung Ho! by the same authors. While not being as good as that book, this is an excellent read about how you make and keep your customers not only satisfied but happy supporters of the services you provide. Like Gung Ho! the book is structured as a story where you follow the protagonist on an enlightening trip around businesses that have one thing in common: they all not only have satisfied customers, they have raving fans of their businesses. You'd better like the storytelling aspect of the book or you might not become a raving fan of the authors... Good, enlightening and entertaining read done in one lazy evening.

Cultism At It's Very Best, 17 May 2007
This book has reached cult like status in our office !!! So much so that a cult around it is actually starting to develop !!! This cult exhibits the usual charectaristics of a cult, and of course they seem to love it!!!!!! I'm sure I'll see them on Jeremy Kyle soon though.....either that or CNN.


GREAT MODEL TO APPROACH PERFECTION THROUGH INNOVATION, 28 May 2004
In a world of almost no service, RAVING FANS takes the opposite perspective -- that virtually perfect service is worth pursuing. Those who are used to providing and suffering from having no service will find this book impossible to comprehend. I found it inspiring.

A major problem with most books on management processes is that that do too little to focus on how to make large amounts of progress beyond what is now done. RAVING FANS is a big success in providing you with simple instructions for making large strides toward achievable perfection in providing service.

Imagining perfection is a critical first step to improvement, yet most people have never thought about what that could mean. Then testing that perfection with customers (and potential customers) must be done to be sure that there is a valid opportunity, and to be able to understand customers' ideas about achievable perfection. Then attaching the idea of continuous improvement toward that vision is also valuable, and useful.

There are plenty of practical tips about how to do each part in RAVING FANS, which is key to making this book so valuable.

One of the reasons that I enjoy writing reviews about books on-line is that I can find a book like RAVING FANS that agrees so much with my own perspective and research. This book will quickly get you past your Psychology of Disbelief, Bureaucracy, Procrastination, Communiation, and Ugly Duckling stalls. Good for Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles . . . and good for you, too! Even better for your customers!

If you like this book, be sure to go on to read GUNG HO, the second book in the series, which deals with getting employees fired up to produce great service for Raving Fans. The third book in the series, BIG BUCKS!, just came out, and is a worthwhile successor to the first two. I suggest you read all three if you have a business or aspire to have one that provides well for employees, customers, and owners.

A good related book is THE CUSTOMER CENTERED COMPANY by Richard Whiteley.

Top Notch!, 27 Nov 2008
I bought this book to use at work, as part of my job involves Customer Services. It was brilliant (in fact I read it all in one go) and it now lives under my desk! The opening chapter deals with general basics which are a useful reminder, however it's the rest of the book that earns its stripes. Just about every situation you could think of is presented clearly and concisely, each to a separate page, with examples of how a conversation may go and how to respond. I've encountered some super tricky Customers (you know who you are!) and this book has shown me how to handle them all.
I've now changed my Customer 'scripts' to fit in with the book and this has proved very successful, with some great feedback from happy Customers. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in this area.

The Lieutenant Columbo Approach, 05 Nov 2008
Service excellence comes in many shapes and forms. The essence of the service concept is a relationship with the customer that goes above and beyond their expectations or the market norm. David Maister has introduced the nuts and bolts of building such a relationship in The Trusted Advisor.
He looks at the concept of getting closer to customers from an interpersonal point of view as well as a highly practical point of view.
His strength is in bringing to life concepts that could be handled clumsily in a very easy and relevant read.
My particular favourite is chapter 17, the Lieutenant Columbo Approach. Whilst time goes by and many are not familiar with this icon of American television, for those of us that grew up with Columbo, his less than immaculate dress sense, remnants of a cigar and slightly tilted gestures there is an unmistakable empathy with Maister's presentation of the character's genius. Columbo effectively made the bad guy trip himself up with a seemingly naive curiosity in his questioning style, lulling the alleged criminal into a state of openness; an honesty that would eventually prove to be their downfall.
Without doubt, a fantastic read and 'how-to' book on getting close to your most important focal point, your customers, and turning the relationship from transactional into transformational, from merely being a 'supplier' to a trusted advisor.
It remains a 'best-seller' amongst our customers who consistently rate it as one of their favourites.

Good stuff, 14 Jan 2008
This book covers the subject at a theoretical level, but also complements that with checklists of things to do/not do(thoughtfully repeated together in an Appendix). The examples drawn from the authors' own experience are also more relevant and substantial than is often the case. This is a book that won't just be useful once, but which will bear referring to again and again.

Valuable Tips and Insights, 08 Feb 2007
The key theme for the book, the Trust Equation is actually in the middle of the book. The first part of the book leads up to it by framing the issue of trust and what a trusted adviser is. The second part, starting with the Trust Equation gives some structure to the challenge of building trust whilst the third part is all about putting trust to work.

It contain loads of tips and ideas to help anyone who needs or wants to become a "trusted adviser" and it will be of particular interest to lawyers, accountants, account managers, consultants, tax advisers, business coaches etc. -- anyone in a long term relationship with a client.

A really good book -- but I didn't actually finish it, partly because I had got enough out of it, and also partly because the format seemed a bit repetetive. Well worth the money spent though!

Clear directions on creating trust, 07 Jun 2006
Being trusted by their clients separates successful advisors and consultants from the corporate consigliores. But how does a qualified advisor become trusted? Authors David H. Maister, Charles H. Green and Robert M. Galford provide methods you can use to reach the inner circle. They break trust into its component parts and reassemble those pieces into a viable, practical model, complete with suggested conversations. That may sound a little robotic, but with practice, an advisor can make the transition from outside technician to habitué of the inner sanctum. This readable book includes a useful appendix and a list of quick references. We recommend it to consultants and professional service providers. We trust you'll know what to do with it.

A good book for business employees/consultants, 03 Jun 2003
The Trusted Advisor was on a recommended reading list for the ISEB exam in IS Consultancy. I brought this book to help me with my studies, but have also found it very useful in everyday life. It reopens your eyes into how you should conduct yourself every day to gain peoples / customers trust. Each section has a set of bullet points relating to it for easy reference. The content would work for business employees and consultants.

Powerful message based on common sense, 20 Feb 2007
This surprising book offers a powerful message based on common sense: Companies that treat their customers ethically and honestly will build a dedicated client base, and thus grow steadily and earn "good profits." The opposite lesson is that companies that take advantage of their customers through predatory pricing or shoddy products earn "bad profits" while building an army of disenchanted buyers who tell their friends to stay away. Fred Reichheld makes his point in black and white: Rip off your customers at your peril. He amply illustrates his message with powerful case studies, and includes details about using the "ultimate" question - "How likely is it that you would recommend this business to a friend or colleague?" - and the resulting "Net Promotor Score" to identify your best customers. We commend this book to service or product providers who want to achieve solid growth by nurturing their core consumers.



Perfect Sense, 19 Sep 2006
This book is essential reading, well written, engaging and rips through the over complicated world of customer surveys. The proof Fred Reichheld offers about the link between client satisfaction and growth is attractive and powerful. I will be implementing many of the ideas immediately in my business and believe that many organisations will be forced to look again at their approch to customer surveys. There will be a lot of overpriced marketing survey companies quaking in their boots when this information reaches a wider audience. I suggest you and they read it now.

Easy to read, simple approach, but with fundamental flaws., 06 Jun 2006
Reichheld proposes you just need to ask one question in order to drive business success. This is "How likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague". This is commendably simple and the resulting `promoters minus detractors' used to derive the Net Promoter Score (NPS) gives an easy to understand measure of how well your business is doing.

However, this approach has not gone down well with his peers. He bravely acknowledges the storm of criticism (p183), but then does not address the fundamental flaws they raise, arguing merely that people are against it because they can't believe something so simple can be effective.

Two fundamental flaws which he doesn't deal with are:
* A simple measure like NPS doesn't tell you what needs fixing. A measure which tells you you're not doing very well, but which doesn't guide you towards the priorities for improvement is frustratingly useless.
* While simplicity is a good thing to have, the NPS can be a danger to your company profits. You can't buy customer satisfaction, but you can buy loyalty by cutting prices. Improving an NPS score can lead to `buying loyalty' behaviour, and damage shareholder value.

He argues that the Net Promoter Score is a better approach than measuring customer satisfaction, and takes the whole of chapter 5 to make this point. However, he just uses the weaknesses of poor quality customer satisfaction programmes to highlight the advantages of the NPS. Most would agree there are many companies wasting small fortunes on inadequate customer satisfaction programmes, and these would be better spending less money on a Net Promoter Score approach, but this doesn't mean the NPS is better than a properly run customer satisfaction programme, i.e. from an agency who can do the mathematically complex cause and effect modelling to identify the priorities for improvements.

There are unfortunately too many examples of simplistic thinking in this book to recommend it. For instance, on page 84 he claims that his research shows that "the links between satisfaction-survey scores and customer behaviours that drive profitability or growth are tenuous at best", and argues instead in chapter 3 that the NPS can drive growth. However, a moment's thought on what drives people to `recommend this company' shows the weakness here. People will recommend because they are significantly more satisfied with the product or service than with other competitor products, and because the price is right. He defeats his own argument for the NPS as a driver for growth by trying to claim satisfaction does not drive growth, and further illustration of this is in the appendix where he lists high NPS companies as the ones which show high growth - a little research on the American Customer Satisfaction Index website shows these high NPS companies are also leaders of customer satisfaction.

In summary, if you just want to measure how well your business is doing and don't want to spend much money, then the Net Promoter Score approach may be for you, but watch out you don't target your workforce on the results or your margins might suffer. On the other hand, if you want to improve from where you are now, there's no shortcut to investing in a decent customer satisfaction programme which will tell you what needs fixing.


....to obtain the absolutely essential answer, 14 Feb 2006
Those who have already read Reichheld’s two previous books, The Loyalty Effect and Loyalty Rules!, are already well-aware of his exceptional reasoning and writing skills. Throughout most of his career, he has demonstrated those skills when rigorously examining one of the most important and yet least understood business subjects: loyalty. Now more than ever before, the success or failure of individual careers and even entire organizations has depended on the presence or absence of loyalty in one form or another. Obviously, loyalty depends upon trust which must be earned over time but quickly lost, sometimes permanently.

In this volume, The Ultimate Question, Reichheld again examines various dimensions of loyalty while extending his attention beyond it to what I consider to be an even more important issue: knowing what is most important to customers by accurately measuring the nature and extent of customers’ satisfaction. As Reichheld explains,“What this book offers...is a wholly new kind of measurement, a measurement that can focus an entire organization on improving every customer’s experience day in and day out. The process is both simple and radical. Companies need to ask just one question -- the Ultimate Question -- in a regular, systematic, and timely fashion.”

After struggling with one issue, I have decided not to reveal the question itself but can assert that it is the one question which must be asked because the responses to it are needed to guide and inform efforts to achieve “good profits and true growth.” Unlike bad profits which are earned at the expense of customer relationships, good profits are earned with customers’ enthusiastic cooperation. “A company earns good profits when it so delights its customers that they are willing to come back for more -- and not only that, they tell their friends and colleagues to do business with the company.” True growth is based on good profits. It is real, verifiable, and sustainable.

Of course, most companies try to grow but only a few succeed. In Chapter 1, Reichheld cites this statistic: almost 80% of the world’s firms failed to meet a true-growth threshold of 5% a year in real terms from 1994 to 2004. Why? “The reason is that growth and short-term profits are often antithetical. Most companies can boost their short-term profits simply by following the practices just mentioned [in Chapter Ten]. But no company can do that and achieve sustained growth, because its customers will resent the company and will leave at the earliest opportunity.”

Hence the importance of formulating and then applying “a measurement that can focus an entire organization on improving every customer’s experience day in and day out.” Reichheld recommends what he calls the Net Promoter Score (NPS) which he explains in Chapter Three. Once again, I have decided not to provide any details. Both the Ultimate Question and NPS are best revealed within the context of Reichheld’s lively narrative. But I can assert that for decision-makers in most (if not all organizations), what Reichheld has to say about both the Ultimate Question and NPS could well be the difference between success or failure.

Here’s what I consider to be Reichheld’s most valuable insight: there is a direct and practical link between NPS and profitable growth. Therefore, have customers determine your current NPS. Their responses to the Ultimate Question will suggest what must be done to increase your NPS. Moreover, by continuing to use what is indeed “a wholly new kind of measurement,” your organization (regardless of its size or nature) can then sustain profitable growth which will increase in direct proportion to an ever-improving NPS.

Reichheld’s latest book is a brilliant achievement. Bravo!

A quick and easy read, 17 Oct 2008
Written in the now familiar 'One Minute Manager' parable style this book is a quick and easy read. It contains some good thought provoking commentary on the subject of customer service. As with other Blanchard titles this is a good book to use to spread the word in your organisation as it is compact and concise enough for anyone to read easily and quickly.
I use a lot of stories when training people as it helps the key messages to be absorbed easily - as is the case with this book.

Simon Hazeldine Author of 'Bare Knuckle Customer Service', 'Bare Knuckle Selling' and 'Bare Knuckle Negotiating'.

I'm a raving fan of this book!, 06 Aug 2008
What a great book! A simple and fast read with key messages that anyone can implement in their jobs. I'm about to become one of those annoying managers who buys a copy for everyone in their team.

Convincing read about satisfying customers, 01 Jul 2007
I read this book after having read Gung Ho! by the same authors. While not being as good as that book, this is an excellent read about how you make and keep your customers not only satisfied but happy supporters of the services you provide. Like Gung Ho! the book is structured as a story where you follow the protagonist on an enlightening trip around businesses that have one thing in common: they all not only have satisfied customers, they have raving fans of their businesses. You'd better like the storytelling aspect of the book or you might not become a raving fan of the authors... Good, enlightening and entertaining read done in one lazy evening.

Cultism At It's Very Best, 17 May 2007
This book has reached cult like status in our office !!! So much so that a cult around it is actually starting to develop !!! This cult exhibits the usual charectaristics of a cult, and of course they seem to love it!!!!!! I'm sure I'll see them on Jeremy Kyle soon though.....either that or CNN.


GREAT MODEL TO APPROACH PERFECTION THROUGH INNOVATION, 28 May 2004
In a world of almost no service, RAVING FANS takes the opposite perspective -- that virtually perfect service is worth pursuing. Those who are used to providing and suffering from having no service will find this book impossible to comprehend. I found it inspiring.

A major problem with most books on management processes is that that do too little to focus on how to make large amounts of progress beyond what is now done. RAVING FANS is a big success in providing you with simple instructions for making large strides toward achievable perfection in providing service.

Imagining perfection is a critical first step to improvement, yet most people have never thought about what that could mean. Then testing that perfection with customers (and potential customers) must be done to be sure that there is a valid opportunity, and to be able to understand customers' ideas about achievable perfection. Then attaching the idea of continuous improvement toward that vision is also valuable, and useful.

There are plenty of practical tips about how to do each part in RAVING FANS, which is key to making this book so valuable.

One of the reasons that I enjoy writing reviews about books on-line is that I can find a book like RAVING FANS that agrees so much with my own perspective and research. This book will quickly get you past your Psychology of Disbelief, Bureaucracy, Procrastination, Communiation, and Ugly Duckling stalls. Good for Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles . . . and good for you, too! Even better for your customers!

If you like this book, be sure to go on to read GUNG HO, the second book in the series, which deals with getting employees fired up to produce great service for Raving Fans. The third book in the series, BIG BUCKS!, just came out, and is a worthwhile successor to the first two. I suggest you read all three if you have a business or aspire to have one that provides well for employees, customers, and owners.

A good related book is THE CUSTOMER CENTERED COMPANY by Richard Whiteley.

Top Notch!, 27 Nov 2008
I bought this book to use at work, as part of my job involves Customer Services. It was brilliant (in fact I read it all in one go) and it now lives under my desk! The opening chapter deals with general basics which are a useful reminder, however it's the rest of the book that earns its stripes. Just about every situation you could think of is presented clearly and concisely, each to a separate page, with examples of how a conversation may go and how to respond. I've encountered some super tricky Customers (you know who you are!) and this book has shown me how to handle them all.
I've now changed my Customer 'scripts' to fit in with the book and this has proved very successful, with some great feedback from happy Customers. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in this area.

The Lieutenant Columbo Approach, 05 Nov 2008
Service excellence comes in many shapes and forms. The essence of the service concept is a relationship with the customer that goes above and beyond their expectations or the market norm. David Maister has introduced the nuts and bolts of building such a relationship in The Trusted Advisor.
He looks at the concept of getting closer to customers from an interpersonal point of view as well as a highly practical point of view.
His strength is in bringing to life concepts that could be handled clumsily in a very easy and relevant read.
My particular favourite is chapter 17, the Lieutenant Columbo Approach. Whilst time goes by and many are not familiar with this icon of American television, for those of us that grew up with Columbo, his less than immaculate dress sense, remnants of a cigar and slightly tilted gestures there is an unmistakable empathy with Maister's presentation of the character's genius. Columbo effectively made the bad guy trip himself up with a seemingly naive curiosity in his questioning style, lulling the alleged criminal into a state of openness; an honesty that would eventually prove to be their downfall.
Without doubt, a fantastic read and 'how-to' book on getting close to your most important focal point, your customers, and turning the relationship from transactional into transformational, from merely being a 'supplier' to a trusted advisor.
It remains a 'best-seller' amongst our customers who consistently rate it as one of their favourites.

Good stuff, 14 Jan 2008
This book covers the subject at a theoretical level, but also complements that with checklists of things to do/not do(thoughtfully repeated together in an Appendix). The examples drawn from the authors' own experience are also more relevant and substantial than is often the case. This is a book that won't just be useful once, but which will bear referring to again and again.

Valuable Tips and Insights, 08 Feb 2007
The key theme for the book, the Trust Equation is actually in the middle of the book. The first part of the book leads up to it by framing the issue of trust and what a trusted adviser is. The second part, starting with the Trust Equation gives some structure to the challenge of building trust whilst the third part is all about putting trust to work.

It contain loads of tips and ideas to help anyone who needs or wants to become a "trusted adviser" and it will be of particular interest to lawyers, accountants, account managers, consultants, tax advisers, business coaches etc. -- anyone in a long term relationship with a client.

A really good book -- but I didn't actually finish it, partly because I had got enough out of it, and also partly because the format seemed a bit repetetive. Well worth the money spent though!

Clear directions on creating trust, 07 Jun 2006
Being trusted by their clients separates successful advisors and consultants from the corporate consigliores. But how does a qualified advisor become trusted? Authors David H. Maister, Charles H. Green and Robert M. Galford provide methods you can use to reach the inner circle. They break trust into its component parts and reassemble those pieces into a viable, practical model, complete with suggested conversations. That may sound a little robotic, but with practice, an advisor can make the transition from outside technician to habitué of the inner sanctum. This readable book includes a useful appendix and a list of quick references. We recommend it to consultants and professional service providers. We trust you'll know what to do with it.

A good book for business employees/consultants, 03 Jun 2003
The Trusted Advisor was on a recommended reading list for the ISEB exam in IS Consultancy. I brought this book to help me with my studies, but have also found it very useful in everyday life. It reopens your eyes into how you should conduct yourself every day to gain peoples / customers trust. Each section has a set of bullet points relating to it for easy reference. The content would work for business employees and consultants.

Powerful message based on common sense, 20 Feb 2007
This surprising book offers a powerful message based on common sense: Companies that treat their customers ethically and honestly will build a dedicated client base, and thus grow steadily and earn "good profits." The opposite lesson is that companies that take advantage of their customers through predatory pricing or shoddy products earn "bad profits" while building an army of disenchanted buyers who tell their friends to stay away. Fred Reichheld makes his point in black and white: Rip off your customers at your peril. He amply illustrates his message with powerful case studies, and includes details about using the "ultimate" question - "How likely is it that you would recommend this business to a friend or colleague?" - and the resulting "Net Promotor Score" to identify your best customers. We commend this book to service or product providers who want to achieve solid growth by nurturing their core consumers.



Perfect Sense, 19 Sep 2006
This book is essential reading, well written, engaging and rips through the over complicated world of customer surveys. The proof Fred Reichheld offers about the link between client satisfaction and growth is attractive and powerful. I will be implementing many of the ideas immediately in my business and believe that many organisations will be forced to look again at their approch to customer surveys. There will be a lot of overpriced marketing survey companies quaking in their boots when this information reaches a wider audience. I suggest you and they read it now.

Easy to read, simple approach, but with fundamental flaws., 06 Jun 2006
Reichheld proposes you just need to ask one question in order to drive business success. This is "How likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague". This is commendably simple and the resulting `promoters minus detractors' used to derive the Net Promoter Score (NPS) gives an easy to understand measure of how well your business is doing.

However, this approach has not gone down well with his peers. He bravely acknowledges the storm of criticism (p183), but then does not address the fundamental flaws they raise, arguing merely that people are against it because they can't believe something so simple can be effective.

Two fundamental flaws which he doesn't deal with are:
* A simple measure like NPS doesn't tell you what needs fixing. A measure which tells you you're not doing very well, but which doesn't guide you towards the priorities for improvement is frustratingly useless.
* While simplicity is a good thing to have, the NPS can be a danger to your company profits. You can't buy customer satisfaction, but you can buy loyalty by cutting prices. Improving an NPS score can lead to `buying loyalty' behaviour, and damage shareholder value.

He argues that the Net Promoter Score is a better approach than measuring customer satisfaction, and takes the whole of chapter 5 to make this point. However, he just uses the weaknesses of poor quality customer satisfaction programmes to highlight the advantages of the NPS. Most would agree there are many companies wasting small fortunes on inadequate customer satisfaction programmes, and these would be better spending less money on a Net Promoter Score approach, but this doesn't mean the NPS is better than a properly run customer satisfaction programme, i.e. from an agency who can do the mathematically complex cause and effect modelling to identify the priorities for improvements.

There are unfortunately too many examples of simplistic thinking in this book to recommend it. For instance, on page 84 he claims that his research shows that "the links between satisfaction-survey scores and customer behaviours that drive profitability or growth are tenuous at best", and argues instead in chapter 3 that the NPS can drive growth. However, a moment's thought on what drives people to `recommend this company' shows the weakness here. People will recommend because they are significantly more satisfied with the product or service than with other competitor products, and because the price is right. He defeats his own argument for the NPS as a driver for growth by trying to claim satisfaction does not drive growth, and further illustration of this is in the appendix where he lists high NPS companies as the ones which show high growth - a little research on the American Customer Satisfaction Index website shows these high NPS companies are also leaders of customer satisfaction.

In summary, if you just want to measure how well your business is doing and don't want to spend much money, then the Net Promoter Score approach may be for you, but watch out you don't target your workforce on the results or your margins might suffer. On the other hand, if you want to improve from where you are now, there's no shortcut to investing in a decent customer satisfaction programme which will tell you what needs fixing.


....to obtain the absolutely essential answer, 14 Feb 2006
Those who have already read Reichheld’s two previous books, The Loyalty Effect and Loyalty Rules!, are already well-aware of his exceptional reasoning and writing skills. Throughout most of his career, he has demonstrated those skills when rigorously examining one of the most important and yet least understood business subjects: loyalty. Now more than ever before, the success or failure of individual careers and even entire organizations has depended on the presence or absence of loyalty in one form or another. Obviously, loyalty depends upon trust which must be earned over time but quickly lost, sometimes permanently.

In this volume, The Ultimate Question, Reichheld again examines various dimensions of loyalty while extending his attention beyond it to what I consider to be an even more important issue: knowing what is most important to customers by accurately measuring the nature and extent of customers’ satisfaction. As Reichheld explains,“What this book offers...is a wholly new kind of measurement, a measurement that can focus an entire organization on improving every customer’s experience day in and day out. The process is both simple and radical. Companies need to ask just one question -- the Ultimate Question -- in a regular, systematic, and timely fashion.”

After struggling with one issue, I have decided not to reveal the question itself but can assert that it is the one question which must be asked because the responses to it are needed to guide and inform efforts to achieve “good profits and true growth.” Unlike bad profits which are earned at the expense of customer relationships, good profits are earned with customers’ enthusiastic cooperation. “A company earns good profits when it so delights its customers that they are willing to come back for more -- and not only that, they tell their friends and colleagues to do business with the company.” True growth is based on good profits. It is real, verifiable, and sustainable.

Of course, most companies try to grow but only a few succeed. In Chapter 1, Reichheld cites this statistic: almost 80% of the world’s firms failed to meet a true-growth threshold of 5% a year in real terms from 1994 to 2004. Why? “The reason is that growth and short-term profits are often antithetical. Most companies can boost their short-term profits simply by following the practices just mentioned [in Chapter Ten]. But no company can do that and achieve sustained growth, because its customers will resent the company and will leave at the earliest opportunity.”

Hence the importance of formulating and then applying “a measurement that can focus an entire organization on improving every customer’s experience day in and day out.” Reichheld recommends what he calls the Net Promoter Score (NPS) which he explains in Chapter Three. Once again, I have decided not to provide any details. Both the Ultimate Question and NPS are best revealed within the context of Reichheld’s lively narrative. But I can assert that for decision-makers in most (if not all organizations), what Reichheld has to say about both the Ultimate Question and NPS could well be the difference between success or failure.

Here’s what I consider to be Reichheld’s most valuable insight: there is a direct and practical link between NPS and profitable growth. Therefore, have customers determine your current NPS. Their responses to the Ultimate Question will suggest what must be done to increase your NPS. Moreover, by continuing to use what is indeed “a wholly new kind of measurement,” your organization (regardless of its size or nature) can then sustain profitable growth which will increase in direct proportion to an ever-improving NPS.

Reichheld’s latest book is a brilliant achievement. Bravo!

Fascinating insight into Tesco's use of customer purchasing data, 24 Aug 2007
What comes out clearly from this fascinating book on the evolution of the Tesco Clubard is that Clubard is not a stand-alone loyalty programme. It is fundamentally integral to the way Tesco does business, driven by the company's marketing philosophy of "Every Little Helps" where Tesco seeks to create a long-term benefit to the customer (or more likely, the customer perception of a long-term benefit). In return for this benefit, Tesco receives an incredibly valuable insight into customer behaviour. This insight allows Tesco to take full advantage of that behaviour.

The data collected through Clubard underpins Tesco's power. However, it is their ability to analyse the data that has enabled Tesco's rise to market dominance. The book describes in some detail how the analysis has evolved over the lifetime of Clubcard, from basically nothing through to the no-limits of today.

The book is frustratingly positive about the Clubcard programme, glossing over some of the problems and weaknesses it has faced, making it appear that what Tesco does is the only way forward. Allowing the inclusion of more reality, and describing in more detail some of the failures that there must have been, would have given the reader a greater sense of the journey taken by the programme creators, to get idea of what must have been the numerous struggles in getting the programme right.

Overall, an excellent read. It's making me think every time I hand over one of the numerous loyalty cards that I carry. What does what I'm buying say about me? How much has having the card influenced my decision to make the purchase? Have I been caught by the retailer's marketing? Many questions.


Tesco, Clubcard and its loyalty program, 08 Nov 2006
A very detailed but lively, informative and engaging book on Tesco's launch of of its loyalty card, Clubcard and subsequent efforts to keep Clubcard fresh.
The book also details the effects of Clubcard on Tesco's business in general and claims that in the UK, at least, Tescos strategy and Clubcard are inextricable.

A quick and easy read, 17 Oct 2008
Written in the now familiar 'One Minute Manager' parable style this book is a quick and easy read. It contains some good thought provoking commentary on the subject of customer service. As with other Blanchard titles this is a good book to use to spread the word in your organisation as it is compact and concise enough for anyone to read easily and quickly.
I use a lot of stories when training people as it helps the key messages to be absorbed easily - as is the case with this book.

Simon Hazeldine Author of 'Bare Knuckle Customer Service', 'Bare Knuckle Selling' and 'Bare Knuckle Negotiating'.

I'm a raving fan of this book!, 06 Aug 2008
What a great book! A simple and fast read with key messages that anyone can implement in their jobs. I'm about to become one of those annoying managers who buys a copy for everyone in their team.

Convincing read about satisfying customers, 01 Jul 2007
I read this book after having read Gung Ho! by the same authors. While not being as good as that book, this is an excellent read about how you make and keep your customers not only satisfied but happy supporters of the services you provide. Like Gung Ho! the book is structured as a story where you follow the protagonist on an enlightening trip around businesses that have one thing in common: they all not only have satisfied customers, they have raving fans of their businesses. You'd better like the storytelling aspect of the book or you might not become a raving fan of the authors... Good, enlightening and entertaining read done in one lazy evening.

Cultism At It's Very Best, 17 May 2007
This book has reached cult like status in our office !!! So much so that a cult around it is actually starting to develop !!! This cult exhibits the usual charectaristics of a cult, and of course they seem to love it!!!!!! I'm sure I'll see them on Jeremy Kyle soon though.....either that or CNN.


GREAT MODEL TO APPROACH PERFECTION THROUGH INNOVATION, 28 May 2004
In a world of almost no service, RAVING FANS takes the opposite perspective -- that virtually perfect service is worth pursuing. Those who are used to providing and suffering from having no service will find this book impossible to comprehend. I found it inspiring.

A major problem with most books on management processes is that that do too little to focus on how to make large amounts of progress beyond what is now done. RAVING FANS is a big success in providing you with simple instructions for making large strides toward achievable perfection in providing service.

Imagining perfection is a critical first step to improvement, yet most people have never thought about what that could mean. Then testing that perfection with customers (and potential customers) must be done to be sure that there is a valid opportunity, and to be able to understand customers' ideas about achievable perfection. Then attaching the idea of continuous improvement toward that vision is also valuable, and useful.

There are plenty of practical tips about how to do each part in RAVING FANS, which is key to making this book so valuable.

One of the reasons that I enjoy writing reviews about books on-line is that I can find a book like RAVING FANS that agrees so much with my own perspective and research. This book will quickly get you past your Psychology of Disbelief, Bureaucracy, Procrastination, Communiation, and Ugly Duckling stalls. Good for Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles . . . and good for you, too! Even better for your customers!

If you like this book, be sure to go on to read GUNG HO, the second book in the series, which deals with getting employees fired up to produce great service for Raving Fans. The third book in the series, BIG BUCKS!, just came out, and is a worthwhile successor to the first two. I suggest you read all three if you have a business or aspire to have one that provides well for employees, customers, and owners.

A good related book is THE CUSTOMER CENTERED COMPANY by Richard Whiteley.

Top Notch!, 27 Nov 2008
I bought this book to use at work, as part of my job involves Customer Services. It was brilliant (in fact I read it all in one go) and it now lives under my desk! The opening chapter deals with general basics which are a useful reminder, however it's the rest of the book that earns its stripes. Just about every situation you could think of is presented clearly and concisely, each to a separate page, with examples of how a conversation may go and how to respond. I've encountered some super tricky Customers (you know who you are!) and this book has shown me how to handle them all.
I've now changed my Customer 'scripts' to fit in with the book and this has proved very successful, with some great feedback from happy Customers. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in this area.

The Lieutenant Columbo Approach, 05 Nov 2008
Service excellence comes in many shapes and forms. The essence of the service concept is a relationship with the customer that goes above and beyond their expectations or the market norm. David Maister has introduced the nuts and bolts of building such a relationship in The Trusted Advisor.
He looks at the concept of getting closer to customers from an interpersonal point of view as well as a highly practical point of view.
His strength is in bringing to life concepts that could be handled clumsily in a very easy and relevant read.
My particular favourite is chapter 17, the Lieutenant Columbo Approach. Whilst time goes by and many are not familiar with this icon of American television, for those of us that grew up with Columbo, his less than immaculate dress sense, remnants of a cigar and slightly tilted gestures there is an unmistakable empathy with Maister's presentation of the character's genius. Columbo effectively made the bad guy trip himself up with a seemingly naive curiosity in his questioning style, lulling the alleged criminal into a state of openness; an honesty that would eventually prove to be their downfall.
Without doubt, a fantastic read and 'how-to' book on getting close to your most important focal point, your customers, and turning the relationship from transactional into transformational, from merely being a 'supplier' to a trusted advisor.
It remains a 'best-seller' amongst our customers who consistently rate it as one of their favourites.

Good stuff, 14 Jan 2008
This book covers the subject at a theoretical level, but also complements that with checklists of things to do/not do(thoughtfully repeated together in an Appendix). The examples drawn from the authors' own experience are also more relevant and substantial than is often the case. This is a book that won't just be useful once, but which will bear referring to again and again.

Valuable Tips and Insights, 08 Feb 2007
The key theme for the book, the Trust Equation is actually in the middle of the book. The first part of the book leads up to it by framing the issue of trust and what a trusted adviser is. The second part, starting with the Trust Equation gives some structure to the challenge of building trust whilst the third part is all about putting trust to work.

It contain loads of tips and ideas to help anyone who needs or wants to become a "trusted adviser" and it will be of particular interest to lawyers, accountants, account managers, consultants, tax advisers, business coaches etc. -- anyone in a long term relationship with a client.

A really good book -- but I didn't actually finish it, partly because I had got enough out of it, and also partly because the format seemed a bit repetetive. Well worth the money spent though!

Clear directions on creating trust, 07 Jun 2006
Being trusted by their clients separates successful advisors and consultants from the corporate consigliores. But how does a qualified advisor become trusted? Authors David H. Maister, Charles H. Green and Robert M. Galford provide methods you can use to reach the inner circle. They break trust into its component parts and reassemble those pieces into a viable, practical model, complete with suggested conversations. That may sound a little robotic, but with practice, an advisor can make the transition from outside technician to habitué of the inner sanctum. This readable book includes a useful appendix and a list of quick references. We recommend it to consultants and professional service providers. We trust you'll know what to do with it.

A good book for business employees/consultants, 03 Jun 2003
The Trusted Advisor was on a recommended reading list for the ISEB exam in IS Consultancy. I brought this book to help me with my studies, but have also found it very useful in everyday life. It reopens your eyes into how you should conduct yourself every day to gain peoples / customers trust. Each section has a set of bullet points relating to it for easy reference. The content would work for business employees and consultants.

Powerful message based on common sense, 20 Feb 2007
This surprising book offers a powerful message based on common sense: Companies that treat their customers ethically and honestly will build a dedicated client base, and thus grow steadily and earn "good profits." The opposite lesson is that companies that take advantage of their customers through predatory pricing or shoddy products earn "bad profits" while building an army of disenchanted buyers who tell their friends to stay away. Fred Reichheld makes his point in black and white: Rip off your customers at your peril. He amply illustrates his message with powerful case studies, and includes details about using the "ultimate" question - "How likely is it that you would recommend this business to a friend or colleague?" - and the resulting "Net Promotor Score" to identify your best customers. We commend this book to service or product providers who want to achieve solid growth by nurturing their core consumers.



Perfect Sense, 19 Sep 2006
This book is essential reading, well written, engaging and rips through the over complicated world of customer surveys. The proof Fred Reichheld offers about the link between client satisfaction and growth is attractive and powerful. I will be implementing many of the ideas immediately in my business and believe that many organisations will be forced to look again at their approch to customer surveys. There will be a lot of overpriced marketing survey companies quaking in their boots when this information reaches a wider audience. I suggest you and they read it now.

Easy to read, simple approach, but with fundamental flaws., 06 Jun 2006
Reichheld proposes you just need to ask one question in order to drive business success. This is "How likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague". This is commendably simple and the resulting `promoters minus detractors' used to derive the Net Promoter Score (NPS) gives an easy to understand measure of how well your business is doing.

However, this approach has not gone down well with his peers. He bravely acknowledges the storm of criticism (p183), but then does not address the fundamental flaws they raise, arguing merely that people are against it because they can't believe something so simple can be effective.

Two fundamental flaws which he doesn't deal with are:
* A simple measure like NPS doesn't tell you what needs fixing. A measure which tells you you're not doing very well, but which doesn't guide you towards the priorities for improvement is frustratingly useless.
* While simplicity is a good thing to have, the NPS can be a danger to your company profits. You can't buy customer satisfaction, but you can buy loyalty by cutting prices. Improving an NPS score can lead to `buying loyalty' behaviour, and damage shareholder value.

He argues that the Net Promoter Score is a better approach than measuring customer satisfaction, and takes the whole of chapter 5 to make this point. However, he just uses the weaknesses of poor quality customer satisfaction programmes to highlight the advantages of the NPS. Most would agree there are many companies wasting small fortunes on inadequate customer satisfaction programmes, and these would be better spending less money on a Net Promoter Score approach, but this doesn't mean the NPS is better than a properly run customer satisfaction programme, i.e. from an agency who can do the mathematically complex cause and effect modelling to identify the priorities for improvements.

There are unfortunately too many examples of simplistic thinking in this book to recommend it. For instance, on page 84 he claims that his research shows that "the links between satisfaction-survey scores and customer behaviours that drive profitability or growth are tenuous at best", and argues instead in chapter 3 that the NPS can drive growth. However, a moment's thought on what drives people to `recommend this company' shows the weakness here. People will recommend because they are significantly more satisfied with the product or service than with other competitor products, and because the price is right. He defeats his own argument for the NPS as a driver for growth by trying to claim satisfaction does not drive growth, and further illustration of this is in the appendix where he lists high NPS companies as the ones which show high growth - a little research on the American Customer Satisfaction Index website shows these high NPS companies are also leaders of customer satisfaction.

In summary, if you just want to measure how well your business is doing and don't want to spend much money, then the Net Promoter Score approach may be for you, but watch out you don't target your workforce on the results or your margins might suffer. On the other hand, if you want to improve from where you are now, there's no shortcut to investing in a decent customer satisfaction programme which will tell you what needs fixing.


....to obtain the absolutely essential answer, 14 Feb 2006
Those who have already read Reichheld’s two previous books, The Loyalty Effect and Loyalty Rules!, are already well-aware of his exceptional reasoning and writing skills. Throughout most of his career, he has demonstrated those skills when rigorously examining one of the most important and yet least understood business subjects: loyalty. Now more than ever before, the success or failure of individual careers and even entire organizations has depended on the presence or absence of loyalty in one form or another. Obviously, loyalty depends upon trust which must be earned over time but quickly lost, sometimes permanently.

In this volume, The Ultimate Question, Reichheld again examines various dimensions of loyalty while extending his attention beyond it to what I consider to be an even more important issue: knowing what is most important to customers by accurately measuring the nature and extent of customers’ satisfaction. As Reichheld explains,“What this book offers...is a wholly new kind of measurement, a measurement that can focus an entire organization on improving every customer’s experience day in and day out. The process is both simple and radical. Companies need to ask just one question -- the Ultimate Question -- in a regular, systematic, and timely fashion.”

After struggling with one issue, I have decided not to reveal the question itself but can assert that it is the one question which must be asked because the responses to it are needed to guide and inform efforts to achieve “good profits and true growth.” Unlike bad profits which are earned at the expense of customer relationships, good profits are earned with customers’ enthusiastic cooperation. “A company earns good profits when it so delights its customers that they are willing to come back for more -- and not only that, they tell their friends and colleagues to do business with the company.” True growth is based on good profits. It is real, verifiable, and sustainable.

Of course, most companies try to grow but only a few succeed. In Chapter 1, Reichheld cites this statistic: almost 80% of the world’s firms failed to meet a true-growth threshold of 5% a year in real terms from 1994 to 2004. Why? “The reason is that growth and short-term profits are often antithetical. Most companies can boost their short-term profits simply by following the practices just mentioned [in Chapter Ten]. But no company can do that and achieve sustained growth, because its customers will resent the company and will leave at the earliest opportunity.”

Hence the importance of formulating and then applying “a measurement that can focus an entire organization on improving every customer’s experience day in and day out.” Reichheld recommends what he calls the Net Promoter Score (NPS) which he explains in Chapter Three. Once again, I have decided not to provide any details. Both the Ultimate Question and NPS are best revealed within the context of Reichheld’s lively narrative. But I can assert that for decision-makers in most (if not all organizations), what Reichheld has to say about both the Ultimate Question and NPS could well be the difference between success or failure.

Here’s what I consider to be Reichheld’s most valuable insight: there is a direct and practical link between NPS and profitable growth. Therefore, have customers determine your current NPS. Their responses to the Ultimate Question will suggest what must be done to increase your NPS. Moreover, by continuing to use what is indeed “a wholly new kind of measurement,” your organization (regardless of its size or nature) can then sustain profitable growth which will increase in direct proportion to an ever-improving NPS.

Reichheld’s latest book is a brilliant achievement. Bravo!

Fascinating insight into Tesco's use of customer purchasing data, 24 Aug 2007
What comes out clearly from this fascinating book on the evolution of the Tesco Clubard is that Clubard is not a stand-alone loyalty programme. It is fundamentally integral to the way Tesco does business, driven by the company's marketing philosophy of "Every Little Helps" where Tesco seeks to create a long-term benefit to the customer (or more likely, the customer perception of a long-term benefit). In return for this benefit, Tesco receives an incredibly valuable insight into customer behaviour. This insight allows Tesco to take full advantage of that behaviour.

The data collected through Clubard underpins Tesco's power. However, it is their ability to analyse the data that has enabled Tesco's rise to market dominance. The book describes in some detail how the analysis has evolved over the lifetime of Clubcard, from basically nothing through to the no-limits of today.

The book is frustratingly positive about the Clubcard programme, glossing over some of the problems and weaknesses it has faced, making it appear that what Tesco does is the only way forward. Allowing the inclusion of more reality, and describing in more detail some of the failures that there must have been, would have given the reader a greater sense of the journey taken by the programme creators, to get idea of what must have been the numerous struggles in getting the programme right.

Overall, an excellent read. It's making me think every time I hand over one of the numerous loyalty cards that I carry. What does what I'm buying say about me? How much has having the card influenced my decision to make the purchase? Have I been caught by the retailer's marketing? Many questions.


Tesco, Clubcard and its loyalty program, 08 Nov 2006
A very detailed but lively, informative and engaging book on Tesco's launch of of its loyalty card, Clubcard and subsequent efforts to keep Clubcard fresh.
The book also details the effects of Clubcard on Tesco's business in general and claims that in the UK, at least, Tescos strategy and Clubcard are inextricable.

The scales life from my eyes, 02 Aug 2008
I've read many books on Lean both manufacturing lean as well as office lean. This is an excellent considered work with practical examples combined with philosophy, an important element to truly understand Lean. Other office lean books by comparison are for kids, trotting out basic and obvious advice with no learning.

Your lean journey never ends, but this will move your thinking to another level.

Poor type setting and graphics but it's content is pure gold.

A must for your lean library.

A quick and easy read, 17 Oct 2008
Written in the now familiar 'One Minute Manager' parable style this book is a quick and easy read. It contains some good thought provoking commentary on the subject of customer service. As with other Blanchard titles this is a good book to use to spread the word in your organisation as it is compact and concise enough for anyone to read easily and quickly.
I use a lot of stories when training people as it helps the key messages to be absorbed easily - as is the case with this book.

Simon Hazeldine Author of 'Bare Knuckle Customer Service', 'Bare Knuckle Selling' and 'Bare Knuckle Negotiating'.

I'm a raving fan of this book!, 06 Aug 2008
What a great book! A simple and fast read with key messages that anyone can implement in their jobs. I'm about to become one of those annoying managers who buys a copy for everyone in their team.

Convincing read about satisfying customers, 01 Jul 2007
I read this book after having read Gung Ho! by the same authors. While not being as good as that book, this is an excellent read about how you make and keep your customers not only satisfied but happy supporters of the services you provide. Like Gung Ho! the book is structured as a story where you follow the protagonist on an enlightening trip around businesses that have one thing in common: they all not only have satisfied customers, they have raving fans of their businesses. You'd better like the storytelling aspect of the book or you might not become a raving fan of the authors... Good, enlightening and entertaining read done in one lazy evening.

Cultism At It's Very Best, 17 May 2007
This book has reached cult like status in our office !!! So much so that a cult around it is actually starting to develop !!! This cult exhibits the usual charectaristics of a cult, and of course they seem to love it!!!!!! I'm sure I'll see them on Jeremy Kyle soon though.....either that or CNN.


GREAT MODEL TO APPROACH PERFECTION THROUGH INNOVATION, 28 May 2004
In a world of almost no service, RAVING FANS takes the opposite perspective -- that virtually perfect service is worth pursuing. Those who are used to providing and suffering from having no service will find this book impossible to comprehend. I found it inspiring.

A major problem with most books on management processes is that that do too little to focus on how to make large amounts of progress beyond what is now done. RAVING FANS is a big success in providing you with simple instructions for making large strides toward achievable perfection in providing service.

Imagining perfection is a critical first step to improvement, yet most people have never thought about what that could mean. Then testing that perfection with customers (and potential customers) must be done to be sure that there is a valid opportunity, and to be able to understand customers' ideas about achievable perfection. Then attaching the idea of continuous improvement toward that vision is also valuable, and useful.

There are plenty of practical tips about how to do each part in RAVING FANS, which is key to making this book so valuable.

One of the reasons that I enjoy writing reviews about books on-line is that I can find a book like RAVING FANS that agrees so much with my own perspective and research. This book will quickly get you past your Psychology of Disbelief, Bureaucracy, Procrastination, Communiation, and Ugly Duckling stalls. Good for Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles . . . and good for you, too! Even better for your customers!

If you like this book, be sure to go on to read GUNG HO, the second book in the series, which deals with getting employees fired up to produce great service for Raving Fans. The third book in the series, BIG BUCKS!, just came out, and is a worthwhile successor to the first two. I suggest you read all three if you have a business or aspire to have one that provides well for employees, customers, and owners.

A good related book is THE CUSTOMER CENTERED COMPANY by Richard Whiteley.

Top Notch!, 27 Nov 2008
I bought this book to use at work, as part of my job involves Customer Services. It was brilliant (in fact I read it all in one go) and it now lives under my desk! The opening chapter deals with general basics which are a useful reminder, however it's the rest of the book that earns its stripes. Just about every situation you could think of is presented clearly and concisely, each to a separate page, with examples of how a conversation may go and how to respond. I've encountered some super tricky Customers (you know who you are!) and this book has shown me how to handle them all.
I've now changed my Customer 'scripts' to fit in with the book and this has proved very successful, with some great feedback from happy Customers. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in this area.

The Lieutenant Columbo Approach, 05 Nov 2008
Service excellence comes in many shapes and forms. The essence of the service concept is a relationship with the customer that goes above and beyond their expectations or the market norm. David Maister has introduced the nuts and bolts of building such a relationship in The Trusted Advisor.
He looks at the concept of getting closer to customers from an interpersonal point of view as well as a highly practical point of view.
His strength is in bringing to life concepts that could be handled clumsily in a very easy and relevant read.
My particular favourite is chapter 17, the Lieutenant Columbo Approach. Whilst time goes by and many are not familiar with this icon of American television, for those of us that grew up with Columbo, his less than immaculate dress sense, remnants of a cigar and slightly tilted gestures there is an unmistakable empathy with Maister's presentation of the character's genius. Columbo effectively made the bad guy trip himself up with a seemingly naive curiosity in his questioning style, lulling the alleged criminal into a state of openness; an honesty that would eventually prove to be their downfall.
Without doubt, a fantastic read and 'how-to' book on getting close to your most important focal point, your customers, and turning the relationship from transactional into transformational, from merely being a 'supplier' to a trusted advisor.
It remains a 'best-seller' amongst our customers who consistently rate it as one of their favourites.

Good stuff, 14 Jan 2008
This book covers the subject at a theoretical level, but also complements that with checklists of things to do/not do(thoughtfully repeated together in an Appendix). The examples drawn from the authors' own experience are also more relevant and substantial than is often the case. This is a book that won't just be useful once, but which will bear referring to again and again.

Valuable Tips and Insights, 08 Feb 2007
The key theme for the book, the Trust Equation is actually in the middle of the book. The first part of the book leads up to it by framing the issue of trust and what a trusted adviser is. The second part, starting with the Trust Equation gives some structure to the challenge of building trust whilst the third part is all about putting trust to work.

It contain loads of tips and ideas to help anyone who needs or wants to become a "trusted adviser" and it will be of particular interest to lawyers, accountants, account managers, consultants, tax advisers, business coaches etc. -- anyone in a long term relationship with a client.

A really good book -- but I didn't actually finish it, partly because I had got enough out of it, and also partly because the format seemed a bit repetetive. Well worth the money spent though!

Clear directions on creating trust, 07 Jun 2006
Being trusted by their clients separates successful advisors and consultants from the corporate consigliores. But how does a qualified advisor become trusted? Authors David H. Maister, Charles H. Green and Robert M. Galford provide methods you can use to reach the inner circle. They break trust into its component parts and reassemble those pieces into a viable, practical model, complete with suggested conversations. That may sound a little robotic, but with practice, an advisor can make the transition from outside technician to habitué of the inner sanctum. This readable book includes a useful appendix and a list of quick references. We recommend it to consultants and professional service providers. We trust you'll know what to do with it.

A good book for business employees/consultants, 03 Jun 2003
The Trusted Advisor was on a recommended reading list for the ISEB exam in IS Consultancy. I brought this book to help me with my studies, but have also found it very useful in everyday life. It reopens your eyes into how you should conduct yourself every day to gain peoples / customers trust. Each section has a set of bullet points relating to it for easy reference. The content would work for business employees and consultants.

Powerful message based on common sense, 20 Feb 2007
This surprising book offers a powerful message based on common sense: Companies that treat their customers ethically and honestly will build a dedicated client base, and thus grow steadily and earn "good profits." The opposite lesson is that companies that take advantage of their customers through predatory pricing or shoddy products earn "bad prof