CUSTOMER SATISFACTION GRAFFITI
Richard Feinberg, Ph.D.
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
Purdue University
1.
The more high tech the world becomes, the more people crave high touch service.
John Naisbett, Megatrends
2.
Customers do not buy products or services so much as they buy expectations.
Ted Levitt, The Marketing Imagination
3.
The cost of landing a new customer is more than five times the cost of retaining an existing one.
Robert Desatnick, Managing to Keep Customers
4.
A loyal customer is worth thousands of dollars over the life of their relationship with your
company.
Tom Peters, Thriving on Chaos
5.
Seventy-two percent of the consumers who switch to a competitor did so because of customer
service problems.
A study by The Forum Corporation
6.
Only two percent of unhappy customers complain, while thirty-four percent of all dissatisfied
customers penalized the manufacturer by quietly switching brands.
The study by The A.C. Nielsen Company
7.
Sixty-eight percent of customers switch suppliers because of the indifference shown them by
customer service personnel.
Tom Peters, U.S. News and World Report
8.
Sixty-one percent of consumers polled say their pre-purchase decisions were most influenced by
the opinions of their friends, i.e. the importance of word of mouth.
General Electric Study, The Information Challenge
9.
The answer is yes…now what is the question?
Waitress at LoneStar Steakhouse
10.
In the long run, the most important single factor affecting a company's performance is the quality
of its customer service relative to that of its competitors.
Robert Buzzell and Bradley Gale, Linking Strategy to Performance
11.
By the way customers act, you'd think they own this company. And, in a way, they do!
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
12.
Customer service expectations can be categorized into five overall dimensions:
EMPATHY, TANGIBLES.
Leonard Berry, Service Quality
RELIABILITY,
RESPONSIVENESS, ASSURANCE,
13.
Customers perceive service in their own unique, idiosyncratic, emotional, irrational, end-of-theday, and totally human terms. Perception is all there is!
Tom Peters, In Search of Excellence
14.
Undertake not what you cannot perform, but be careful to keep your promise.
George Washington
15.
Consistent, high-quality service boils down to two equally important things: caring and
competence.
Chip Bell and Ron Zemke, Service Wisdom
16.
Customers don't care what you know, until they know that you care.
Digital Equipment Corporation, Customer Service Department
17.
Listening is about trust and respect and involvement and information sharing more than it is
about ears.
Beverly Briggs, Customer Connection Newsletter
18.
Caring, respect, empathy, politeness are very important customer satisfiers that cost nothing.
19.
The simplest and yet the most powerful words in customer service are "Thank You."
20.
Customers don't expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things quickly when things
go wrong.
Donald Porter, British Airways
21.
Customers are our best friends.
22.
When our customers rate us better or worse than somebody else, it's never very scientific, but it's
always disastrous if you score low!
Jack Welsh, CEO, General Electric
23.
Total quality customer service cannot be stored in inventory, it must be 100% available upon
demand.
24.
Experienced and loyal employees are five times more likely to create satisfied loyal customers.
25.
No company can produce outstanding customer service unless its top management are visibly,
constantly, and sometimes irrationally committed to the idea.
David Davidow and Bro Uttal, Total Customer Service
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
26.
Culture is nothing more than the values, beliefs, and norms of a group of people. Corporate
leaders shape cultures, and the corporate culture is key to delivering total quality customer
service.
Richard Normann, Service Management
27.
People seem to notice when you're everywhere. So how do you get there? Instead of worrying
about how to drive people to your website, find creative ways to be on everyone else's. Provide
a service that makes their websites far more useful, and they won't be able to live without you.
You'll populate the Internet, be more visible, and, oh, yeah, become more profitable.
www.hp.com/e-services
28.
To deliver total quality customer service, your pledge should be: "Look out customers - I'm
gonna knock your socks off!"
Kristin Anderson and Ron Zemke, Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service
29.
You never have a second chance to make a first impression, and unfortunately, first impressions
are the most lasting in a customer's mind.
30.
In striving for total quality customer service, you're not looking for fault, but you're striving to
produce a solution as quickly as possible.
31.
You need customers much more than they need you.
32.
If we can improve customer satisfaction by only one percent, it means $275,000,000 in revenue
to us over the next five years.
Robert LaBant, IBM Corporation
33.
A 5% increase in customer retention equates to approximately a 100% increase in profits.
Robert Sasser, Harvard Business Review
34.
Customer complaints are opportunities for improvement and the key to future sales.
Complaints tell you what is wrong . What is wrong can lead to improvement,
Compaints come from individuals and gives you an opportunity to recapture a lost customer.
35.
If you think you don't need customers, try doing without them for 30 days.
Richard Feinberg, Purdue University
36.
The essence of business success is treating customers and selling products which overtime
makes the customer view you as the supplier of choice each time, every time.
Richard Feinberg, Purdue University
37.
Customer Delight is a state of experience in which the customer exclaims "WOW, that
was the greatest __________ (fill in the name of your product) ever!"
Richard Feinberg, Purdue University
38.
Treat the customer as appreciating assets.
Tom Peters, Author/Consultant
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
39.
You achieve customer satisfaction when you sell merchandise that doesn’t come back to a
customer who does.
Stanley Marcus, Founder of Nieman-Marcus
40.
Our customers are our number one sales force.
John Scully, Former CEO of Apple Computers
41.
You cannot expect your employees to delight your customers unless you, as an employer, delight
your employees.
Carla Paonessa, Partner, Anderson Consulting
42.
American Airlines calculated that if they had one more customer on each flight in a given year,
the difference in revenue would have been about $114 million. How much is one customer
worth to you?
Guerilla Marketing Newsletter
43.
Of America’s 100 largest companies at the beginning of this century, only 16 are still in
business.
Across the Board Magazine, September 1994
44.
In commercials, Mr. Goodwrench is always smiling and wearing a freshly pressed uniform and
returning a repaired car to a delighted owner, against the backdrop of a ludicrously hygienic
garage filled with industrious auto repair technicians who are clearly capable of repairing the
Space Shuttle. Has any US automobile owner ever actually encountered a repair department like
this?
Dave Barry, Humor Columnist
45.
What the customer buys and considers value is never the product. It is always...what the product
or service does for him.
Peter Drucker, 1974
46.
If we always do what we always did, we will always get what we always got.
Rick Lowry, Tru-Serv
47.
Customers don’t want their money back, they want a product that works properly.
Dan Burton
48.
Ask the lowest level front line people about your business. Sometimes they don’t know not to
tell the truth.
Jim Robisch, Farnsworth Group
49.
The success of Coca-Cola is not the result of government intervention. It is because consumers
like the stuff.
Andrew Young, on Face the Nation
50.
The dollar bills the customer gets from the teller in four banks are the same. What is different
are the tellers.
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
Stanley Marcus, Chairman Emeritus, Neiman-Marcus
51.
Retail clerk to customer: “Any chance you could do your own paperwork, ring yourself up and
say, ‘thank you, come again,’ on your way out the door?”
Cartoon by Goff
52.
What I have found most valuable in this rotation was witnessing the voice of the customer firsthand. Instead of reading figures indicating which product concerns are most often complained
about, I have felt the emotional impact that these product concerns can have on customers. I
have seen the wide range of expectations placed on the motto “quality is job 1.” I have heard the
voice of the customer, and I will be a better engineer for it.
Charlie Choi, Ford College graduate program trainee, advanced vehicle engineering
and technology--Call Center experience
53.
Listening to customer must become everybody’s business. With most competitors moving ever
faster, the race will go to those who listen (and respond) most intently.”
Tom Peters, Thriving On Chaos
54.
Talking to customers tends to counteract the most self-destructive habit of all companies--that of
listening to ourselves.
J. Brooks
55.
This is a story about four people named EVERYBODY, SOMEBODY,
There was an important job to be done and EVERYBODY was sure that
ANYBODY could have done it, but NOBODY did it. SOMEBODY got angry
about that, because it was EVERYBODY’S job. EVERYBODY thought ANYBODY could do it, but
NOBODY realized that EVERYBODY wouldn’t do it. It ended up that EVERYBODY blamed
SOMEBODY when NOBODY did what ANYBODY could have.
“That’s Not My Job”
ANYBODY AND NOBODY.
SOMEBODY would do it.
56.
“My Bias” Companies should strive for WOW--100% customer satisfaction. They should be
prepared to respond when things go wrong. How you respond is the acid test for the 21st
century.
Richard Feinberg, Purdue University
57.
There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its
success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.
Niccolo Machiavelli, from The Prince
58.
Do make certain that your customer wants are truly that—and not merely what some people in
the company think the customers want. The need for solid customer information is absolute; it
will directly affect the quality of everything else that occurs in the process. Garbage in, garbage
out.
William Barnard and Thomas Wallace, The Innovation Edge
59.
Imagine, as a consumer, how much more seriously your consumer complaint would be taken if
you were complaining from inside an armored vehicle capable of reducing the entire “Customer
Service” department to tiny smoking shards. What I am saying is: Forget the Automated
Answering system. Get a tank.
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
Dave Barry, Humor Columnist
60.
Groucho Marx despised the empty clichés of customer service correspondence. A letter from a
bank manager ended with the standard phrase, “If I can be of any service to you, do not hesitate
to call me.” He immediately took pen to paper. “Dear Sir,” Groucho wrote. “The best thing you
can do to be of service to me is to steal some money from the account of one of your richest
clients and credit it to mine.”
The Executive Speechwriter Newsletter, Volume 11 Number 4
61.
“A discovery by Xerox shattered conventional wisdom: Its totally satisfied customers were six
times more likely to repurchase Xerox products over the next 18 months than its satisfied
customer. The implications were profound: Merely satisfying customers who have the freedom
to make choices is not enough to keep them loyal. The only truly loyal customers are totally
satisfied customers.”
Harvard Business Review, Nov./Dec. 1995
62.
General Telephone Co. in Los Angeles was making a film for its employees. The original script
included this dramatization showing how to handle customers’ complaints: Customer: “You
just can’t rely on your damn phone company for anything!” Employee: “You get your bill every
month don’t you?”
63.
GE’s goal is not to become smaller but to “get that small-company soul and small-company
speed inside our big-company body.”
Jack Welch, CEO, GE
64.
Every time a company is given an order by a customer, that company, at that moment, is the best
choice in the world.
Ken Hammer, Businessman
65.
You don’t sell what it is, you sell what it does.
66.
The best way to win a Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award for yourself is to help your
customer win one first.
67.
On October 4, 1957, the top ten businesses in Chicago were Swift, Standard Oil, Armour,
International Harvester, Inland Steel, Wilson, Sears, Montgomery Ward, Prudential Insurance
and the First National Bank of Chicago. Thirty-five years later, the list of Chicago’s top
businesses, ranked by sales, is a little different. It still includes Sears and First National, but it
also includes CAN Financial, Amoco, Continental Bank, Citicorp Diner’s Club, and
Commonwealth Edison. But ranked by market capitalization, which many would agree is a more
meaningful measure Chicago’s biggest companies include Ameritech, Abbott Labs,
McDonald’s, Motorola, Waste Management, and Baxter. These lists dramatically illustrate the
evolution that American business has gone through over the past 35 years—an evolution
characterized by a move away from commodities and commodity type manufacturing to
financial services, health care and technology in many different formats. The list also leads to
the next questions: Which companies will be among the top ten in the next 35 years?
Richard Rosenberg, Chairman & CEO of BankAmerica Corp., 1993
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
68.
Quality isn’t about money, it’s about caring. It’s about wanting to be the best because there is
personal pride at state—an individual declaration of identity with the product. There is always a
market for the best, all over the globe. It’s an obvious and well-known fact that mountain
climbers don’t like to buy discounted climbing ropes. And there’s the joke about the parachute
offer for sale—cheap, slightly irregular, but used only once. When something is important as
life and death—and all business decisions should be—quality is irreplaceable.
Hap Klopp, President, The North Face (world’s largest producer of outdoor adventure
equipment)
69.
Quality is the only patent protection we’ve got.
James Robinson III, CEO, American Express Corp., 1992
70.
People forget how fast you did a job—but they remember how well you did it.
Howard Newton (1903-1951), American advertising executive
71.
We know exactly where we want to go because our customers will show us the way.
Jerry Stead, CEO, AT&T Global Information Solutions
72.
In the long run, our customers are going to determine whether we have a job or not. Their
attitude toward us is going to be the factor determining our success. Every employee must
resolve that their most important duty is to our customers.
Joseph C. Wilson, Xerox CEO 1961-67
73.
The customer isn’t key anymore—the customer is dictator!
74.
I solemnly promise and declare that for every customer that comes within ten feet of me, I will
smile, look them in the eye and greet them, so help me Sam.
Employee Pledge, Wal-Mart Discount Stores
75.
The opinion of management doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is what the customer is
doing and thinking.
Piggly Wiggly Weekly Newsletter
If you are not romancing the customer…who is?
76.
77.
A study by the CFI Group finds that a 5% boost in employee satisfaction means a 2% increase in
customer satisfaction.
The Wall Street Journal, August 1997
78.
In order to truly provide good service, I ask myself, would I want to be served by me.
Author Unknown
79.
“About 15 years ago at one of our electronics facilities in Orlando, Florida, the complacency
bred of past success started to infect one of our manufacturing processes. Occasionally, parts
were omitted from component kits prepared for assembly and inspection at another factory.
Each missing part disrupted the assembly process and frustrated the workers assembling the
products. I borrowed an idea from an automobile dealer in Dallas I had heard about. The dealer
received few complaints from customers because he gave them the home telephone numbers of
the mechanics who worked on their cars. I arranged for workers to include their names, work
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
phone numbers, and self-addressed postcards in the kits they prepared. Complaints dropped
precipitously.”
Norman K. Augustine, Chairman, Lockheed Martin Corp.
80.
Sam Walton built Wal-Mart into a Fortune 4 company by living the philosophy that “There is
only one boss. The customer. And he, and she - - can fire everybody in the company from the
chairman down, simply by spending his, or her, money elsewhere.”
81.
Harry Bullis, former Chairman of the Board of General Mills, used to give his salesmen the
following advice: “Forget about the sales you hope to make and concentrate on the service you
want to render.” The moment people’s attention is centered on service to others, they become
more dynamic, more forceful and harder to resist. How can you resist someone who is trying to
help you solve a problem? "I tell our salesmen," said Mr. Bullis, “that if they would start out
each morning with the thought, ‘I want to help as many people as possible today,’ instead of ‘I
want to make as many sales as possible today, they would find a more easy and open approach to
their buyers and they would make more sales. He who goes out to help his fellowman to a
happier and easier way of life is exercising the highest type of salesmanship.”
82.
Because the customer has a need, we have a job to do. Because the customer has a choice, we
must be the better choice. Because the customer has sensibilities, we must be considerate.
83.
Great customer service means comfort for the buyer. As one purchasing agent summed it up in a
conversation with a manufacturer: “do you know what your company really sells? Sleep. When
I place my orders with you, I know there won’t be any problems. None. I can sleep all night.”
84.
For too many companies, customer service means “We honor the credit card, but we don’t have
to honor the credit card holder.”
85.
Eighty percent of American managers cannot answer with any measure of confidence these
seemingly simple questions: What is my job? What in it really counts? How well am I doing?
W. Edwards Deming
86.
WORLD-CLASS SERVICE RIGHT DOWN THE STREET. Finally, a group benefits provider
where you need them.
Principal Financial Group Advertisement
87.
People are a firm’s most important asset. If you have an excellent product but only mediocre
people, the results will be only mediocre.
Richard Sloma, author of The Turnaround Manager’s Handbook
88.
Politics isn't about winning at all costs. It's about maintaining relationships and Getting results at
the same time.
89.
It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.
Tom Brokaw
90.
What we need are more people who specialize in the impossible.
Theodore Roethke
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
91.
If we don’t change the direction we are going, we’re likely to end up where we are headed.
Chinese proverb
92.
You can’t guarantee you’ll never make mistakes. You can guarantee you’ll fix them.
Jeff Bezos, founder & CEO, Amazon.com
93.
Customer service is not an event or a department, rather it is a process of creating a customer
environment of information, assurance, and comfort.
Frederick F. Reichheld, W. Earl Sasser, Jr. Zero Defections: Quality Comes to
Services. Harvard Business Review, Sept-Oct., 1990.
94.
We run like mad, then we change direction.
Bert Roberts, MCI
95.
What brings people to their gift of service is a desire to do something that perhaps unlike their
day job…matters.
Charles Trueheart, The Next Church
96.
It’s in your hands so quit whining…
Tom Peters, Innovate or Die
97.
If you can’t say why you made your company a better place, you’re out.
Cynthia Lellams
98.
The Ritz-Carlton experience enlivens the senses, instills well being and fulfills even the
unexpressed needs of our guests.
The Ritz-Carlton Credo
99.
We knew from the beginning that if Saturn was to succeed, we would have to do more than sell a
good car. We would have to change the way cars are sold, the way people who sell them are
perceived, and the way people feel about the experience of shopping for a car.
Stuart Lasser
100.
Whatever made you successful in the past won’t in the future.
Lew Platt, Hewlett Packard
101.
If things seem to be under control, you aren’t going fast enough
Mario Andretti
102.
Ultimately, the axiom will no longer be “If the shoe fits, wear it,” but “Wear it and the shoe will
fit.” Hatfield says that a shoe will be like a chameleon one day. “It will look like a penny loafer
when you put it on in the morning, but when you go play racquetball at lunchtime it will turn
into a court shoe.” One size fits all.
Richard Stengel, The New Yorker 1997
103.
Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime. Enlighten him
further, he owns a chain of seafood restaurants.
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
Microsoft Ad, The New Yorker 1997
104.
You think you understand the situation, but what you don’t understand is that the situation just
changed.
Putnam Investments adverstisement
105.
They’re only puttin’ in a nickel, but they want a dollar song.
Song title
106.
I have a microwave fireplace. You can lay down in front of the fire all night in eight minutes.
Steven Wright
107.
The job can be completed in 5 seconds.
Peter Large, The Micro Revolution Revisited
108.
Since 1987, homes and offices have added 10,000,000 fax machines, while e-mail addresses
have increased by over 26,000,000.
109.
Speed up.
110.
Since 1983, the U.S. work world has added 25,000,000 computers. The number of cellular
telephone subscribers has jumped from zero in 1983 to 16,000,000 by the end of 1993.
111.
Behave like you’re in business for yourself.
Richard Feinberg, Purdue University
112.
See yourself as a service center.
Richard Feinberg, Purdue University
113.
If we had similar progress in automotive technology, today you could buy a Lexus for about $2,
it would travel at the speed of sound, and go about 600 miles on a thimble of gas.
John Naisbitt, Global Paradox
114.
When a company’s customers are happy with the service and the product, and find enthusiastic
and knowledgeable personnel who are anxious to help, chances are that company will continue
to enjoy the lucrative patronage of those customers for a long, long time.
N.W Pope, More Mickey Mouse Marketing
115.
Let’s face it, managing your customer satisfaction isn’t a matter of life or death, it’s far more
important than that.
Richard Feinberg, Purdue University
116.
Investors should be able to reach their brokerage firm any way they need to, day or night.
Charles R. Schwab
117.
What’s next is now.
Sony® ad
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
118.
Find a happy medium between knowing your business and knowing how to make your
customers happy. If they trust you, then the hardest work is done, and you can focus on the real
work: making magic happen.
Steve MacLaughlin
119.
Freedom is actually a bigger game than power. Power is about what you can control. Freedom
is about what you can unleash.
Harriet Rubin
120.
We’ve always been renegades in customer service. We’re always asking, “how can we get the
customer the moment they need us?”
Chuck Salter
122.
Build Relationships…Build Your Dream. It starts with spending time with your members
Building relationships. Enjoying your work Doing what you love.
ASF® Advertisement
123.
"When I have a problem, they solve it. When I have a question, they answer it. That's why I'm
using ABC Financial Services."
Michael Widener, Family Fitness
124.
(Pointing to a bottle of Coke across his desk) “The lifeblood of the Coca-Cola company is you
consuming that drink. If you stop consuming that drink our lifeblood is cut off.
And I don't want anyone to forget that."
M. Douglas Ivester, CEO of Coca-Cola. As quoted in the Wall Street Journal (Mar. 9,
1998) discussing what is important to this 124 billion-dollar company
125.
“Exceptional customer service is 1% inspiration and 99% existing application.”
Richard Feinberg, Purdue University
126.
“The Audi A6 gives new meaning to the phrase ‘Follow that car’”
Quote from the brochure for the 1998 Audi A6
127.
“The all new 1998 Audi A6. Because a luxury-touring sedan must do more than transport you. It
must move you as well.
Quote from the brochure for the 1988 Audi A6.
128.
“Let’s make one thing perfectly clear…Your customer’s satisfaction.”
Richard Feinberg, Purdue University
129.
“Without dough…it don’t go.”
Rick Lowry, Tru*Serv Corporation
130.
“People judge others by their actions and themselves by their intentions. To be successful in the
eyes of you customers, you actions must match your intentions.
Cindy Evans, Tru*Serv Corporation
131.
“You can tell a lot about a company by the customers they keep.”
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
Richard Feinberg, Purdue University
132.
“I am in favor of letting the status quo stay as it is.”
Wisconsin Legislator
133.
“I like thinking big. I always have. To me, it’s very simple: If you’re going to be thinking
anyway, you might as well think big.”
Donald Trump, 1987
134.
“If the marketplace has gone bonkers, you better have a bonkers organization. Straitlaced folks
are not going to make it in a world that’s not straighlaced.”
Tom Peters, consultant, 1992
135.
“Unfortunately, status-quo thinking is still common. As markets change the established leaders
are often among those most blinded by the past successes. None of the companies that
dominated the thriving ice-harvesting market in the nineteenth century converted to the
refrigeration business. The Pony Express did not develop into a railroad. The producers of
electromechanical calculators never made the technological leap into electronic computers.”
136.
New expectations and new priorities are unsettling. But as former British Prime Minister Harold
Wilson once observed, ‘He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human
institution which rejects change is the cemetery.’”
Norman K. Augustine, Chairman, Lockheed Martin Corporation
137.
“Of the 100 largest U.S. companies in 1917, we count only 15 companies surviving today.
Besides 6 oil companies, there are 2 automakers and these 7 others: AT&T, Citicorp, Du Pont,
General Electric, Kodak, Proctor & Gamble and Sears. The other 85 went bankrupt, were
liquidated, were acquired or were left behind.”
Forbes magazine, June 1997
139.
“Practice does not make the athlete. It is the quality and intensity of the practice that makes the
athlete.”
Ray Meyer, former DePaul University basketball coach
140.
This is a phone, a supermarket, a computer, a movie theater, a bank, a game station, a radio, a
video club, a mail box and also a TV-set.
Advertisement for Media Highway
141.
Every company has to figure out what it’s giving away and what it’s selling…If you’re in a fastmoving industry and you want to gain market share, this strategy is paramount.”
Fast Company 1998
142.
These people and companies are doing EVERY DAY what most of us are still just talking about
- - and what many of us have yet to start THINKING ABOUT.
Fast Company 1998
143.
Want to know how to provide great customer service? Think of every noteworthy experience - good or bad - - that you’ve had as a customer. Then think through what made it good or bad, and
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
plan your customer-service strategy around your answer. Finally, take things a step further and
treat your employees the way you want them to treat your best customers. The rest takes care of
itself.
Chris Brogran, Product Support Engineer, Boston Communications Group
144.
If we insist that the customer is always right, then in every dispute the employee must be wrong.
What kind of message is that to send? Besides, who cares who’s right or wrong? You’re in
business to fix problems, not fix blame. Your job is to help customers be successful, not to
pretend they’re infallible. Why not encourage employees to see themselves as detectives,
coaches, and partners - - as advocates for the customer?
Bernice Johnston, President, Milestone Unlimited, Inc.
145.
Life is full of mysteries, finding a reliable business shouldn’t be one of them.
Richard Feinberg, Purdue University
146.
We make sure 99.999% of the pixels in our screen are in perfect working order. It's that last
.0001% THAT KEEPS US UP AT NIGHT.
Fujitsu Advertisement
147.
We’re in the transportation industry, so it only makes sense that we never stand still.
Norfolk Southern advertisement in Inc. Magazine, 1997
148.
Seibel customers: 100% satisfied 100% successful. We do whatever it takes to make our
customers successful.
Siebel advertisement in Forbes Magazine, 1997
149.
So you think you know your customers? Meet Stella Burns. For two years, we’ve been mailing
her coupons for cosmetics, and she hasn’t redeemed a single one! Perhaps you should take a
closer look at your customer profiles and buying habits…Right Stella? Good Puppy!
Data General advertisement in Forbes Magazine, 1998
150.
TCG has always gone the distance for its customers. Now we go even further.
TCG advertisement in Forbes, 1997
151.
There is opportunity everywhere. If you have the vision to see it.
The Montgomery Funds advertisement in The New Yorker, 1998
152.
Create your own series of dodge ball trading cards…Because you can.
Sony ™ advertisement in The New Yorker, 1998
153.
Open 24 hours, easy ordering, fast shipping, gift wrapping, book reviews, recommendations,
editor’s picks, searchable database, bulletin boards, live events, every book in print, worldwide
delivery, deep discounts…
…barnesandnoble.com….where the world shops for books!
154.
Trying to do everything exceptionally well is an admirable goal but risks being unable to do any
one thing the best.
Richard Feinberg, Purdue University
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
155.
It’s about a real mean customer. The [cost] of survival in the auto industry will grow
substantially as the customer gets meaner and meaner and refuses to pay for new widgets.
Alex Trotman, Ford Motor Co., May 1998
156.
The true measure...is how quickly a company answers a support call.
Fujitsu Advertisement, June 1998
157.
Oddly, the most dangerous people in business are the ones who always tell you exactly what you
want to hear.
CPA Advertisement, June 1998
158.
The General seems to have forgotten that people need to be excited about their vehicles, in love
with the sheet metal, wowed by the interiors, excited by the performance.
Jerry Flint, “Panic Time at GM” , Forbes, May 18, 1998
159.
Hire people who are like your customers, rather than just like you.
Robbie Stamp, CEO of the Digital Village
160.
Teach people about the business, so that they can fall in love with it.
Robbie Stamp, CEO of the Digital Village
161.
This has been one of the great experiences of my life. You can’t image how much fun it is to
create a product that actually touches regular folks in their lives.
Ed Colligan, creator of the Palm PDA
162.
"It is not just about having web page but how that web page can give the customer what they
want."
David Sager, Purdue University student
163.
I keep telling them that we’re not geniuses but only a little ahead of the curve.
Jim Assara, Founder and CEO of Shawmut Design & Construction
164.
Smart? It’s not about being smart. It’s about being able to recognize when you do something
accidentally that in hindsight looks smart.
Nick Reed, Co-Founder & CEO of Paragon Biomedical, Inc.
167.
“My customers are calling 24 hours a day, but my business is only open 12 hours a day.”
IBM Ad for ‘Affordable-Communications Solution’.
168.
Lots of companies have a mission statement. How many have a mission?
Aetna US Healthcare Ad. 1998.
169.
“If your customers are not treated as you would like to be treated they will become someone
else’s customers.”
Richard Hinshaw, Purdue University student, 1998
170.
“Complacency towards customer satisfaction is a recipe for business failure.
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
Julie Moore, Purdue University student, 1998
171.
“When businesses realize that they need the customer much more than the customer needs them,
the road to success shortens significantly.”
Emily Wheeler, Purdue University student, 1998
172.
“…without customer satisfaction you have no business, no money, out of luck.”
Karen Warnecke, Purdue University student, 1998
173.
“It’s the consumer stupid”
Steven Williams, Purdue University student
174.
“What makes a company? Customers. What makes a good company? Happy customers. And
most importantly, what do happy customers want and need? Excellent customer service.
Coleen Apache, Purdue University, 1998
175.
“Nothings wrong. But many things could go wrong if we don’t prepare today.”
Steve Ballmer, President - Microsoft
176.
Customer Satisfaction - Ballmer plans to spend $250 million this year to boost customer support
and consulting staff by 25% each. Next he will send hundreds of engineers to the field to meet
with corporate customers so they can better understand their problems.
Presidential priorities of Steve Ballmer, new President of Microsoft
177.
“If anybody’s between you and your customers, you had better be shaking in your boots."
Michael Mortiz, Partner - Sequoia Capital
178.
Is Your Customer
out of Focus?
179. Customer relations is best strengthened by managing both customer satisfaction and customer
performance.
David Bowen, Thunderbird School of Management
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
181.
Asking how much you can make on the Internet is the wrong question. The right question is how
does the internet reinvent your business?
182.
Be the best you can be in your best areas. Become partners with the best in areas that you cannot.
183.
Non-stop, door to door, anytime, anywhere, guaranteed.
Roberts Express
184.
We are the most expensive courier in the world so we better be the best.
Brice Simpson, CEO Roberts Express
185.
Customer satisfaction is a mission not a program.
186.
“A business is not about providing service or selling products anymore, it is about providing
service and selling products which are better.”
Mitzy Sutanto, Student at Purdue University
187.
“… (we must become) lunatics about customer satisfaction.”
Jack Welch, CEO GE
188.
" We need people who can hit the ground running. The standard hiring process--a resume,
interviews, some references--may tell you about history and hypotheticals, but it says little about
how a candidate can add value to your company today."
Cathy Olofson, Fast Company Magazine, December 1998
189.
"The measures that matter to us are the measures that our customers use."
Scott McNealy, Go Fly Ltd., 1999
190.
"I measure customer delight by talking directly to customers."
Jerre Stead, Chairman and CEO of Ingram Micro Inc.
191.
"Keeping employees happy is the key to long-term success. That means keeping the channels of
communication open--measuring satisfaction through surveys, as well as by just walking around
and checking in with people."
Gary White, CEO of Gymboree, 1999
192.
"Complaints provide a window into your performance."
Reuben Greenberg, Chief of Police, Charleston Police Department, Charleston, South
Carolina
193.
"We're not in the education business. We're in the transformation business."
John Quelch, Dean, London Business School
194.
"I have a technique I use to reinforce Rule Number Six for myself. I put a blank sheet of paper
on the stand of every musician at every rehearsal. That paper is an invitation to the players to
inform me about how effective I'm being at making them the best that they can be."
Ben Zander, Conductor, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, 1998
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
195.
"How do I create an environment in which people are committed to doing really great work?
Tracking company culture is the answer. That means looking at the company as a whole and
understanding how all aspects of it are interconnected."
Brian Maxwell, Cofounder/President/CEO of Powerbar Inc.
196.
"If we want to see more risk-taking, we must ourselves take more risks. If we want people to
dream bigger dreams, we must ourselves dream bigger dreams. If we want the whole person to
come to work, we must bring all of ourselves to work."
Barbara Waugh, Hewlett Packard, 1998
197.
"How you handle adversity in the workplace tends to have much more impact on your career than
how you handle the good stuff. The people who know how to overcome adversity are the ones
who rise to the top of the organization."
Martin Seligman, President of American Psychological Association
198.
"Credit cards aren't banking, they're information."
Rich Fairbank, Chairman and CEO of Capital One Financial Corp.
199.
"Thank God for competition. When our competitors upset our plans or outdo our designs, they
open the infinite possibilities of our own work to us."
Gil Atkinson
200.
"If it ain't broke -- fix it. Take fast -- make it faster. Take smart -- make it brilliant. Take good - make it great."
Cigna Advertisement
201.
"If things were done right only 99.9% of the time, we'd have two unsafe plane landings per day at
O'Hare and 16,000 lost pieces of mail every hour by the U.S. Postal Service. Strive for 100%
quality!"
Jeff Dewar
202.
"People don't give a hoot about who made the original whatzit. They want to know who makes
the best one."
Howard W. Newton
203.
"If you haven't got the time to do it right, when will you find the time to do it over?"
Quote from "Quality Service Teamwork/Successories Library"
204.
"If you plant crab applies, don't count on harvesting golden delicious."
Bill Meyer
205.
"No one ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him; it is the
amount and excellence of what is over and above the required that determines the greatness of
ultimate distinction."
Charles Kendal Adams
206.
"Hold yourself responsible for higher standards than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse
yourself."
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
Henry Ward Beecher
207.
"It is a funny thing about a business, if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often
get it."
Quote from "Quality Service Teamwork/Successories Library"
208.
"There are thousands of people who can help you improve your site. They're called users."
Jackie Cohen & Maryann Jones Thompson, The Industry Standard, June 21, 1999
209.
"Real customer service is about reaching and satisfying customers in every retail environment-not only online and not only in a brick and mortar world."
Kelly Mooney, Net Company, September 1999
210.
"Nothing succeeds like excess."
Oscar Wilde
211.
A second-generation neighborhood grocery owner decided to "weed out all of those people who
weren't regular customers" -- and then launched the most radical loyalty program in the
supermarket industry. Today, as members of Club DLM, Dorothy Lane's best customers in
Dayton, Ohio, get the kind of treatment that you'd expect from a sales rep who's chasing a
million-dollar account: free bouquets of flowers, free turkeys at Thanksgiving, Christmas gifts,
invitations to concerts.
212.
"Customer service excellence does not come cascading like Niagara Falls…it comes one drop at
a time."
Quote from "Quality Service Teamwork/Successories Library"
213.
"The polling place of any retail business is at the cash registers. Here, customer satisfaction can
be easily measured in terms of both size and the frequency of the transactions."
Leonard Riggio
214.
"Better three hours too soon than one minute too late."
Shakespeare
215.
"Delivering ads is one thing. Delivering CUSTOMERS is another."
IBM Advertisement
216.
E-commerce shoppers are easily frustrated by server error messages or having to wait for a
transaction to process. They're always just a click away from a competitor's site--and if they
leave, they probably won't ever return.
Quote from "Red Herring," September 1999
217.
Taking a bite from a Dairy Queen ice cream bar, Mr. Buffett said he simply buys what he knows,
then offered a judgment he has no doubt debated over many bridge games with his friend Mr.
Gates. "The Dilly Bar," he said with a smile, "is more certain to be around in 10 years than any
single software application."
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
218.
Bill Ford and Jacques Nasser are transforming Ford from a carmaker into a consumer company
that just happens to make cars.
219.
"Walking down Main Street citizens are four times more likely to encounter an H&R Block
office than they are to encounter the Gap."
Amity Shales, "The Greedy Hand"
220.
SHOPPING ONLINE BEATS STANDING IN LINE. (www.landsend.com)
Land's End Advertisement
221.
"Every fall on the first day of class, I make an announcement: Everybody gets an A. There's only
one condition: students have to submit a letter, written on that first day but dated the following
May, that begins: Dear Mr. Zander, I got my A because… In other words, they have to tell me,
at the beginning of my course, who they will have become by the end of the course that will
justify this extraordinary grade."
Ben Zander, Conductor, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra
222.
TCPAOS -- The customer pays all our salaries.
Dennis Pawley
223.
Technology doesn't try harder, people do.
AVIS Advertisement
224.
"When a company is relying on you to help them succeed there is one thing you'd better
be…visionary."
225.
COOPERTITION -- word to describe strategic alliances with potential competitors.
"Amazon"
226.
"We are hell-bent on not being in a railroad car as jets fly over us."
Eisner's way of explaining why he keeps pushing Disney into new technology
227.
"When you don't know what else to do, listen to your customers."
Eric Schmidt, Novell CEO
228.
WE'RE PROUD TO HAVE BEEN NAMED AIR TRANSPORT WORLD'S "1998 AIRLINE OF
THE YEAR." OUR ONLY REGRET IS THAT THE AWARD DOESN'T HAVE ROOM FOR
74,000 NAMES.
Delta Air Lines Advertisement
229.
Customers are not dependent on us, we are dependent on them. We are not doing them a favor
by serving them, they are doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so.
Quote from "Quality Service Teamwork/Successories Library"
230.
"Never forget a customer, and never let a customer forget you."
Harold McClindon
231.
"Consumers are not statistics. Customers are people."
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
Stanley Marcus
232.
WHAT IF EVERY SMALL BUSINESS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH WAS ABLE TO
SELL TO EVERYONE IN THE WORLD? Maybe there would be no such thing as a small
business.
SmartAge Advertisement
233.
"I spend most of my time talking and listening to customers. Here is how I learned to do that:
When my father, Frank, introduced his chicken to New York City in the early 1970s, he spent six
months there and probably talked to every butcher there was in the city. He took notes on
yellow pads and amassed 20 of them--800 pages. Just before he left New York, he was in a
phone booth at LaGuardia Airport and left one of his yellow pads there. When he later found out
that it was probably picked up as garbage and taken to a landfill, he tracked down the landfill
and got it back."
James Perdue, Chairman, Perdue Farms
234.
WHY ARE YOU STILL TREATING YOUR WEBSITE'S VISITORS LIKE THEY HAVE
NOTHING TO SAY?
NetDive Advertisement
235.
In business, there is only one boss…the customer. They can decide to fire everyone in the
company, from the chairman on down…by spending their money somewhere else.
Quote from "Quality Service Teamwork/Successories Library"
236.
There is only one way to build a business….satisfied customers, one at a time.
237.
Our customer support is so responsive that, OOPS, there's a call, gotta go.
Mind Spring Internet Services Advertisement
238.
"We want our customers to wake up each morning and think, 'Boy am I glad that GSA exists!'"
GSA's goal isn't just to lower prices--it's also to "thrill" customers.
Dave Barram, Head of General Services Administration, Washington DC
239.
e-nnoy-ing: When it's 5:08 pm on a Friday night and the customer service department you need
to talk to about your latest Internet purchase is already at happy hour.
Eliance Advertisement
240.
"We expect our people to understand our customers' expectations and to exceed those
expectations. We don't expect them to wait for permission in order to do the right thing."
Doug Woods
241.
Customer satisfaction can best be summed up in two words…exceed expectations.
Quote from "Quality Service Teamwork/Successories Library"
242.
If you aren't satisfied with your web site performance, imagine how your CUSTOMERS feel
about it.
Service Metrics Advertisement
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
243.
"I was clueless. They were more clueless. The difference was 10 million dollars."
244.
Customer satisfaction, not customer service, is the mission.
Quote from "Quality Service Teamwork/Successories Library"
245.
Now you can never be too rich, to think or have a web site that's too popular.
Resonate Advertisement
246.
Be sure to ask new hires what people they would recruit from their former company. Why?
Because great people tend to know other great people.
John Sullivan, Head, Human-Resource Management Department,
San Francisco State University
247.
IT TAKES MONTHS TO FIND A CUSTOMER; SECONDS TO LOSE ONE.
248.
At Mitel, the way to go faster--and to do better--is to stop spending time on things that don't add
value.
249.
"WebAnswers is an outsourced service company providing a complete solution for delivering
instant answers to online customers' questions. We provide the systems, technical staff and
knowledge-management engineers to develop, manage and host interactive knowledge bases for
our clients. For those questions that require additional research, our customer-service agents find
the right answer--and respond to the customer."
Eric Ornas, President, WebAnswers
250.
To my Customer: I may not have the answer, but I'll find it. I may not have the time, but I'll
make it. I may not be the biggest, but I'll be the most committed to your success.
Quote from "Quality Service Teamwork/Successories Library"
251.
"I DON'T DO MALLS…" Avoid the crowds and shop at home with www.buyitnow.com. We
have everything you're looking for with name brand electronics, tools, toys, home décor items
and more! For personal assistance call our Internet retail specialists @ 1-888-55BUYIT. Our
exclusive hassle-free shopping is backed by a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee.
Why Shop Anywhere Else!
252.
Browse. Buy. Back to Work. (Maybe we made it too easy).
Blue Fly Advertisement
253.
You're on your way to your office, and you're riding the elevator. The doors open, and the CEO
gets on. As the doors slowly slide shut, she turns to you and asks, "What are you working on that
makes a difference to this company?" Her eyes bore into you. You're alone in the elevator with
the biggest of the big cheeses, you've got two minutes to tell her exactly why your project
matters. SO WHAT IS YOUR PITCH?
254.
If you are standing still, you're falling way behind.
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
255.
"In shopping for an 'I Miss You' card yesterday I came across one that said… 'You never write.
You don't call. I never hear from you. You totally ignore me… Have you ever worked in
customer service?'"
B.J. Fisher, Purdue University student
256.
ORVILLE WRIGHT DID NOT HAVE A PILOT'S LICENSE.
257.
"We don't need more breakthroughs in technology (but) in business philosophy."
Stan Shih, Acer
258.
The problem isn't losing your customers to an e-business. It's losing them to someone else's ebusiness.
MCIWorldcom Advertisement
259.
"How many objects--and cars, for that matter--make people coo?"
Sohrab Vossoughi, Founder and President, Ziba Design Inc.
260.
Happ-e. We do e-fulfillment just for grins. Keep your customers smiling--from the moment
they place an e-order till long after your product reaches their doorsteps. Let us do your efulfillment and you'll always have a nice day.
SubmitOrder Advertisement
261.
"A car is a commodity. That's why I'm not thrilled about buying a car over the Internet. The Net
is a great source of information on pricing and availability. But it can diminish your chances of
getting a great deal. Dealers do not compete with one another on these sites--each site has
specific dealers it works with. If you're persistent enough, you might get a better deal in person
than over the Net."
Paul Maghielse, Omega Stamping Company
262.
THE INTERNET: BRINGING PEOPLE, IDEAS AND REALLY NICE PENS TOGETHER.
Ashford Advertisement
263.
"Being a great businessperson not only involves knowing how to do your own job but how to
make your customers and employees so happy they never want to leave."
Beth Pelger, Purdue University student
264.
"A company finds its destiny by answering three questions:
1. Who are we?
2. What do we stand for?
3. How do we serve?"
Tom Chappell, Founder/CEO, Tom's of Maine
265.
"WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR YOU PEOPLE TO GET THE ORDER RIGHT?"
SalesLogic Advertisement
266.
"When meetings are getting too antagonistic, or are moving too quickly through complex issues,
I will shut them down. 'This isn't a break…I want us to sit here in silence, with our eyes open,
and to think about what we're trying to do.'"
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
Tom Durel, Former CEO, Oceania
267.
"KEY TO INTERNET COMMERCE OF ALL KINDS: Your customers aren't customers
anymore. Your vendors aren't vendors anymore. They're either your teammates or someone else's
teammates. If you're not on their team, they'll find someone who is. It doesn't matter if it's
business-to-business e-commerce or retail e-commerce. Another team is just a click away."
John Ellis, Consultant
268.
The Internet is a blank canvas…you hold the brush.
Intendchange Advertisement
269.
"This is your wake-up call: The new economy operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."
Anna Muoio, Fast Company, October 1999
270.
"Why would anyone go into the tire business? To change it!"
Tom Gegax, Head Coach, Team Tires Plus
271.
Finish this sentence: "I would spend more time on the net if…" (40% selected "it allowed me to
do more things that I couldn't do otherwise.")
272.
You can search the world over for the finest in home design. OR You can just, well, search the
world over.
HomePortfolio Advertisement
273.
"Good service + customers = SMILES."
Thomas Rickman, Purdue University student
274.
"It's a fact of life: Most of us have been spoiled by Amazon.com's customer-focused retailing. I
have yet to buy from another e-tailer that gives me (as Amazon does) a complete record of what
I ordered."
Jim Murphy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
275.
"Ask not what your customer can do for you but what you can do for your customer."
David Rabb, Purdue University student
276.
"All the things you normally fuss and moan about to yourself and your buddies-- well, we have a
chance to do something about them. I can't say, 'THEY don't know what's going on.' OR 'THEY
made a bad decision.' I am THEY."
Duane Williams, GE/Durham Factory
277.
Eight hours a day, five days a week, the head of the Seattle's Home Depot store's garden
department roams the aisles of the outlet, scouting out anxious home improvers, helping them
overcome their biggest do-it-yourself worries. "People come in with a lot of fear--fear of water,
fear of electricity, and, if they're trying to put together a barbecue, fear of gas," says Greg
McMillan. "All I'm doing here is empowering them."
278.
LET'S FACE IT, WITHOUT AN E-CUSTOMER THERE IS NO E-BUSINESS.
Vantive Advertisement
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
279.
"When you're trying to double the speed of product development, you have to give the right
people the right information at the right time."
Quote from a Ford executive, Fast Company, October 1999
280.
The New York Times recently reported that the combined 1998 revenues of every retailer on the
Internet--$8 billion, according to Forrester Research--did not match that of one e-commerce
business: Cisco Systems, whose 1999 business-to-business e-commerce revenues exceeded $9
billion.
Fast Company
281.
"I have one piece of advice for you: quit. Leave school tomorrow, take whatever money you
have left that you would have spent on tuition, and start an Internet company. Because if you
stay in school for the next two years--if, when everybody else is dreaming and innovating, you
spend time on the bench, watching the game go by--you'll miss the greatest land grab, the
greatest gold rush of all time, and you'll regret it for the rest of your life."
Jason McCabe Calacanis, Speech to Harvard Business School 1999
282.
IN THE RACE FOR QUALITY, THERE IS NO FINISH LINE.
283.
"If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade."
Tom Peters, "The Pursuit of Wow"
288. Surfing Manifesto: "Give me what I need--and fast. After all, I'd rather be hiking a trail or floating
on a river."
Bill Greer, Founder, GORP (Great Outdoor Recreation Pages)
Fast Company Magazine, November 1999
289. "THE ULTIMATE GOAL: Make yourself an adviser to your customers. Offer suggestions based
on their personal preferences. Know your merchandise, and identify all of the different ways to
shop for it--by price, age, gender, color, style, mood, or any combination of those categories.
Build a smart, robust database, one that delivers search results that are relevant, visual, complete,
and helpful."
Kelly Mooney, Resource.com
290. Which would you rather have? A company that's simple to do business with or a company that
makes business simple?
Gateway Advertisement
291. "When it comes to time management, I have one piece of advice: Push yourself as hard as you
can. Always push yourself, even when it hurts--because every second counts."
Todd Krizelman, Co-CEO, The Globe.com
292.
"I did a few calculations and then took my final figure to a top executive at the company. This
one engineer, I estimated, was worth $29 million to this company. Do you know what that
executive did? He wrote the engineer a check for $1 million. That was exactly the right reaction.
Most great people don't appreciate how valuable they really are. If they did, then lots more of
them would be getting million-dollar bonuses."
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
John Sullivan, Head, Human-Resource Management Program, San Francisco State
University
293.
"Customer service is the online experience. Online, no transaction is tangible. A customer is in a
self-service environment. So retailers must know what the customer wants before she tells them.
From start to finish, the experience is the only thing that matters."
Anna Muoio
294.
Nearly every bulletin board in every office at Dell Computer has a sign that reads:
"The Customer Experience: Own It."
295.
Hanging above a set of cubicles--home to employees who sell computers to government
accounts--is a gift-wrapped box labeled "the 'Customer Experience.'" That label serves as a
reminder that at Dell, bonuses and profit sharing are tied to what those three words signify.
Quote from "Net Company," Fall 1999
296. DESERT YOUR ONLINE CUSTOMERS, AND THEY'LL RETURN THE FAVOR.
www.liveperson.com
297. "The whole point is that owners of computers shouldn't have to get involved in making them work
as promised. They should just work, all the time."
Walter Mossberg, Wall Street Journal, April 30, 1999
298. "We'd rather cannibalize our store sales (via our catalog and Web site) than have someone else do
it."
Jake Mendelsohn, CIO, PETsMART, "Chain Store Age," November 1999
299. E-VOLVE YOUR BUSINESS
Richard Feinberg, Purdue University
300. FOCUS ALL ASPECTS OF YOUR BUSINESS ON YOUR CUSTOMERS AND THE
REWARDS ADD UP FOR EVERYONE.
Lucent Technologies Advertisement
301. "How do you get people to pay attention to your messages when they are dealing with more email
than they can possibly read, more Web sites than they can possibly surf, more TV commercials
than they can possibly watch?"
Polly LaBarre, "Fast Company," September 1999
302. "Only a few mom-and-pop shops deserve to be called 'beloved.' Most of them survive because
their customers have no better option. Thankfully, those stores will die. But mom-and-pops that
provide real value to their customers will prosper."
David Blanchard, "Fast Company," September 1999
303. "The armies that will win in the future--and, by extension, those organizations that will wage
successful campaigns of any kind, whether they're commercial, military, or otherwise--will be
those that marshal 'creative solutions in ambiguous circumstances.' Everybody's got to know
how to be a leader."
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
General Peter Schoomaker, Commander in Chief, U.S. Special Operations Command
304. QUESTION: What did the e-tailer say to the retailer? ANSWER: My floor space is bigger than
yours.
USWeb/CKS Advertisement
305. "Zero time is about the ability to react instantaneously, to provide value for every customer at
every opportunity. Without the Internet, you can't be Zero-Time--PERIOD."
Keri Pearlson, Business Professor, University of Texas (Austin)
306.
"Hire a vice president of customer experience. You need one person who will be a champion for
the customer--one person who can move through various business units and act as an advocate
for customer-centric design."
Anna Muoio, Net Company, Fall 1999
307. "The Internet makes shopping easier and more enjoyable." (67% say that that's a reality; 33% say
that that's a myth.)
Fast Company, October 1999
308.
"Every word on our site should help to create a positive user experience."
Alicia Dougherty, Bigstep.com
309. The government ensures that no more than .0009% Of your food is rodent free. Every percent
counts.
Bankrate.com Advertisement
310. "For the first four years, no new enterprise produces profits. Even Mozart didn't start writing
music until he was four."
Peter Drucker, Management Consultant
311. "Give me a stock clerk with a goal, and I will give you a man who will make history. Give me a
man without a goal, and I will give you a stock clerk."
J. C. Penney
312. "Convenience, Convenience, Convenience! I need to have information at my fingertips."
Carley Roney, Cofounder/VP, the Knot, Inc.
313. "We used to measure how many calls we could take per hour. Now we focus on first-time
resolves--solving the problem once and for all, even if that means talking longer with a
customer."
Manish Mehta, Dell Computers, Net Company, Fall 1999
314. "Every project we take on starts with a question: 'How can we do what's never been done
before?'"
Polly Labarre, Lend Lease Corporation
315. "Many people believe that we have entered the age of the Internet. It's more accurate to say that
we're living in the age of the customer. Make no mistake: customers are in control today. They
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
have access to more information than ever before, and they can retrieve it faster than ever before.
There has never been a better time to be a customer-- or a more demanding time to be a
company."
Anne Busquet, President, American Express Relationship Services, American Express
316. YOU'RE E OR YOU'RE OUT.
EDS Advertisement
317. "The most important kind of time is the time that it takes to acquire and retain your customers.
That's what 'time zero' is all about: How fast are you retaining customers that you already have?
How fast are you grabbing new ones?"
Mark Teflian, President, Time
318.
If… The average single female breaks up with 4.3 men, avoids 237 phone calls and
Ignores approximately 79 red lights per year -- What are the chances she'll read YOUR e-mail
message? …Say something specific. Contact us for e-messaging campaigns that get results.
Message Media Advertisement
319. "We're not in the coffee business serving people. We're in the people business serving coffee."
Howard Schultz, CEO, Starbucks Coffee, Customer Service Management, March/April
1999
320. "I want to do stuff well, but even more important, I want to do the right stuff for the right people."
Ken Keberle, BizVillage, Fast Company, October 1999
321. Wouldn't it be great if every time you named your clients, people said "Wow" instead of "Huh"?
Strategic Interactive Group Advertisement
322. DELL COMPUTER FORMED THE 'CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE COUNCIL,' A GROUP
THAT IS SCRUTINIZING EVERY ASPECT OF HOW DELL INTERACTS WITH
CUSTOMERS.
323. "One of the most distinctive--and powerful--characteristics of the Web is its ability to level the
playing field. For shoppers, that means more information about pricing, dramatically simplifying
the process of comparison shopping."
E. Savitz, "The Industry Standard" 1999
324. "We used to measure how many calls we could take per hour. Now we focus on first-time
resolves-solving the problem once and for all--even if that means talking longer with a
customer."
Manish Mehta, Dell Computer
325. Ancient Dilemma: If you've got a million customers, how do you make each one feel like one in a
million?
Xerox Solution: Talk to customers one-on-one.
Xerox Advertisement
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
326. WHY BUY THE COW WHEN YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE MILK FOR FREE?
Sun Microsystems
327. "Sales professionals die only when they fail to add or create value for their customers and
prospects. Whether a company's sales strategy is e-commerce, direct sales or a combination of
the two, the focus remains on the top line of the income statement--SALES."
Sam Parker, Cofounder, Justsell.com, "The Industry Standard," October 25, 1999
328. "We're not going to build this company by servicing cars, we're going to build it by servicing customers."
James Wheat, President, Jiffy Lube, "Customer Service Management," March/April 1999
329. "BRANDS MATTER. Indeed, in the new world of business--a world of overcapacity and sensory
overload--brands matter more than ever. WHY? Because brands are a form of shorthand.
Customers think about what matters to them, analyze their choices, and settle on a brand. Once
they've done that analysis, they're very reluctant to do it again."
Bob Pittman, President/COO, America Online Inc.
330.
"The biggest challenge facing companies in the 21st century will be to differentiate themselves
from everyone else--to create a passionate following among customers who have too many
choices."
Andy & Kate Spade, Cofounders, Kate Spade
331.
"It's difficult to convince great people to pay attention to you if you don't have a great reputation.
You need to attract people by interesting them in what you're doing."
Eric Raymond, Fast Company, November 1999
332.
The little black dress.
Diamonds.
Great service.
Some things will never
Go out of fashion.
British Airways Advertisement
333.
//companies/customers/suppliers/partners/everyone/everywhere/prepare to merge Welcome to the City of
“e”
SAP Advertisement
334.
At the heart of the Web are two important lessons about your career: You are your most
important product, and everything about you gets more valuable when you use technology to
leverage it. According to Web wizard, Nathan Shedroff, creating your personal Web site is less a
technical challenge than an emotional one. Once you've answered the question "What is your
brand?" you're ready to create the brand called URL.
Quote from Net Company, Fall 1999
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
335.
A few examples of Microsoft-based business-to-business commerce solutions:
MERISEL strengthened their business relationships by giving tens of thousands of resellers realtime inventory and order-status access.
OFFICE DEPOT increased sales by millions of dollars by enabling over 20,000 of their business
customers to purchase goods with custom catalogs and pricing.
SAINSBURY'S one of the UK's largest retailers, is integrating hundreds of disparate suppliers
via a Web-based value chain management system.
336.
"In five years, there won't be any Internet companies because they will all be Internet companies.
Otherwise, they will die."
Andy Grove, Intel Chairman
337.
He's a nasty, noisy, belligerent, bellicose, Bullying, combative, crotchety customer. And he's
going to read your agents the riot act. (Exactly what he's been created to do.)
www.Mosaix.com
338.
"Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, you are going to be able to buy a work of art.
How exciting is that?"
Diana Brooks, CEO, Sotheby's
339.
CONFIDENCE
One Company. One Message:
TOTAL SATISFACTION
Panasonic Advertisement
340.
"It's going to be a Web Christmas."
Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon.com
341.
When it comes to e-business, you've got two choices - get your feet wet soon or risk being left
high and dry.
Cambridge Technology Partners Advertisement
342. "If you organize information so that it serves your customers, they'll stick with you. In a digital
marketplace, you're not offering customers a new catalog every year; you're offering them a new
catalog every night. You don't post a new price every hour. Time is information, and
information is time.
Mark Teflian, President, Time
343.
Change one thing, and it's just not the same.
But if every part is exactly right…
MAGIC
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
Mercedes Benz Advertisement
344.
"If the customer wants to buy through the Internet, we have to make that happen. If we don't,
someone else will. And we'll lose."
Earl Mason
345.
"And we are prepared to make anything. There is no such word as 'no' in our kitchen."
Charlie Trotter, Chicago, Fast Company, December 1999
346.
EVALUATE THIS STATEMENT: FIVE YEARS FROM NOW, RETAIL OUTLETS WILL
HAVE BECOME RELICS OF THE PAST. 8% say that it's "certain to come true within five
years." 48% say that it's "possible, but not likely to come true within five years." 24% say that it
"will not come true within five years."
Article from Fast Company, October 1999
347.
"As they hit the back end of their life cycle, baby boomers seek more personalized funerals,
including different kinds of funeral services, different kinds of music, and different kinds of
caskets--caskets that make a statement.
Batesville Casket Company
348.
What do you get when you cross a premier investment bank with the speed of the Internet? A
distinct edge.
DLJ direct
349.
"Had Levi's focused on giving customers what they want--an easy, enjoyable experience buying
jeans--the site would have made the revenue needed to keep the site afloat. A bad customer
experience caused Levis.com to fail."
Mark Hurst, Founder/President, Creative Good
350.
Thanks to all our salespeople. Especially those of you not on the payroll. That's why we would
like to sincerely thank all the people who bought a Lexus in the past ten years, and then
encouraged others to do the same. While you may not be on the payroll, we do owe you a debt of
gratitude. Thank you.
Lexus Advertisement
351.
Web users are no longer satisfied with sheer quantity of information. They want Quality.
looksmart.com
352.
Better to shoot yourself in the foot, than have a competitor shoot you in the head.
Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. slogan
353.
virtually every lipstick
virtually every fragrance
virtually every eye shadow
virtually every nail color
virtually every beauty gift
virtually every beauty treatment
virtually www.sephora.com
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
354.
The customer is always dead.
Batesville Casket Company
355.
She's thrilled to be answering 95% of customers' e-mails within 3 days. (Doesn't know that
within hours most went straight to her competitor's site.)
Genesys Advertisement
356.
"We no longer set about finding consumers for a mass-produced product. Now, we use an
intimate knowledge of our consumer to find products for him or her."
Dirk De Vos, Levi Strauss
357.
24/7…25/8…
whatever it takes
ESG Advertisement
358.
Products Mean Something Visitors are invited to type in their own Coca-Cola stories using
computers located outside the theater. In the first three weeks, 1,800 people recorded their
stories.
Quote from Fast Company, January/February 2000
359.
Now you can never be too rich, too thin, or have a web site that's too popular.
Resonate Advertisement
360.
The Ritz-Carlton Credo
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel is a place where the genuine care and comfort of our guests is our highest
mission.
We pledge to provide the finest personal service and facilities for our guests, who will always
enjoy a warm, relaxed yet refined ambience.
The Ritz-Carlton experience enlivens the senses, instills well-being, and fulfills even the
unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests.
361.
Man has visited the moon 6 times in 30 years. Sound like your Web site?
MyEvents.com
362. One of the most compelling forms of service is self-service. That's why Dell hosts a bulletin
board where die-hard customers answer questions for other customers at the rate of 400 to 500
per day. The Dell site also features a massive database of FAQs and other documentation, along
with a natural- language search engine (called "Ask Dudley") that handles 50,000 inquiries per
week.
Net Company, Fall 1999
363.
The quickest response time wins.
Ernst & Young Advertisement in Industry Standard
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
364. Try British Airways and we guarantee you'll fly with us again. Give us your opinion and we'll
give you two free tickets to the world.
British Airways Advertisement
365.
When you use an American Express Card to purchase online, you will not be held responsible
for any unauthorized charges. GUARANTEED.
AmericanExpress.com
366.
John Wanamaker said half the money he spent on advertising was wasted. He just didn't know
which half.
Avenue A Internet Media Advertisement
367.
The market never bought anything…people do.
368.
In an information economy, nothing is more essential--or move valuable--to a company than
real-time information.
Fast Company, 1999
369.
"Companies that place customer information at the heart of their business and make that
information available to all employees are ones who have excelled in their industries."
The Patricia Seybold Group
370.
The power to personalize your brokerage experience to fit your goals, your life, your unique way
of doing things.
Fidelity Investments Advertisement
371.
: logged on to
RealEstate.com: 27
seconds
: searched for the perfect
home: 12 minutes
: applied for the lowest rate
mortgage: 7 minutes
: waiting for movers to arrive: 5 hours, 17
minutes and counting
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
RealEstate.com The easiest part of getting a home.
372.
Starbucks' Organization Chart
OUR CUSTOMERS
_________
ALL OF US
373. "IKEA's concept is articulated in a document drafted by Kamprad in 1976: a furniture dealer's
testament. It outlines a set of nine commandments—including a perpetuation of the 'IKEA spirit'
of enthusiasm, thrift, responsibility, humbleness, and simplicity; and 'always asking why we are
doing this or that…refusing to accept a pattern simply because it is well established."
Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA
374.
"The right frame of mind is that your customers are loyal to you, right up until the moment
somebody else offers them better service."
Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com
375.
It's amazing what can happen when you listen to your customers.
FM Global Advertisement
376. "Remember: It's not how satisfied you keep your customers, it's how many
satisfied customers you keep!"
F. Reichheld, Customer Service Management, March/April 1999
377.
"Building a great company on the Web isn't about 'aggregating eyeballs,' 'increasing stickiness,'
or embracing any of the other slogans that masquerade as strategy. It's about rethinking the most
basic relationship in business: the one between you and your customers. How well do you meet
their needs? How smoothly do you solve their problems? How quickly do you anticipate what
they'll want next? The real promise of the Web is a once-and-for-all transfer of power:
Consumers and business customers will get what they want--when and how they want it, and
even at the price they want. The customer experience is the next competitive battleground."
Jerry Gregoire, Dell Computer
378.
If I build it, they will come…Right? Building a successful online community for customers,
partners or employees takes expertise and experience, not just technology.
Participate.com
379.
"Car designers need to create a story, every car provides an opportunity to create an adventure."
Freeman Thomas, Dahmler Chrysler
380. THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL.
It's 2 a.m. While your company is closed for business,
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
Your competition is busy taking orders over the Internet.
Gartner Group Advertisement
381.
Forget faster or cheaper. The Web challenges you to rethink the most basic relationship in
business: the one between you and your customers. How well do you meet their needs and solve
their problems? The Web requires you to make bold promises--and to deliver.
Net Company, Fall 1999
382.
Week 12 / "We've finally got our Website up and running."
That little voice / "How's anyone going to find it?"
Microsoft Advertisement
383.
Twenty million holiday shoppers want in your store. Here are the computer keys.
Qwest Advertisement
384.
MISSION
e-business.
Lots of customers.
Lots of partners.
Room for error?
Zilch.
385.
Shortly after the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago opened in 1989, Nancy Reagan attended a fundraising dinner there for a local hospital. Before the function there was to be a small gathering of
the 20 largest donors with her and the former President. Hans Willimann, the hotel's manager,
was awaiting their arrival, and looked around the room and saw that every man was in a tuxedo
except for himself and one other man. And that other man was very unhappy. "I took him to see
our maitre d'hotel and said 'This man needs a tuxedo.' The maitre d'hotel was unflappable. With
the Reagan entourage bearing down on the hotel, he disappeared; moments later, he returned
with a tuxedo--the one off his own back, freshly pressed. He put it on the man. It was a little too
big, so we had the pants tightened by the hotel seamstress. The man went to the party and
enjoyed himself. The next day we got a letter from him that began, 'You don't know who I am,
but…' The grateful guest turned out to be Fred Steingraber, CEO of A. T. Kearney. Since that
evening, Steingraber has shown his gratitude by steering a good deal of business to the Four
Seasons Hotel in Chicago."
386.
The most exciting thing to ever happen to Home Equity Loans just fell into your lap.
WellsFargo.com (on the laptop)
387.
"It's strange, really. You almost never buy furniture for an 'unhappy' reason. You buy furniture
because you have a new child, or you've bought a house, or you've landed a new job. And yet
customers almost never have anything but horror stories about the experience."
Andrew Brooks
388.
Each campaign should provide at least one moment of pure exhilaration.
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
Excite@Home
389.
"Just as US car makers are getting their quality up to par, the Japanese are redefining and
expanding the term. The new concept is called Miryokuteki-Hinshitsu--making cars that are
more reliable, that fascinate, bewitch, and delight."
Business Week
390.
Now the letter 'e' isn't the scariest in the alphabet.
XPEDIA Advertisement in Wall Street Journal 1999
391.
Can yo u know too much about the company you're banking on to handle your mission-critical
Internet operations? We don't think so. Because the more you know, the more you'll understand
why 38% of the top Internet sites work with us. We're on a mission. Yours.
Exodus Advertisement
392.
The sole purpose of MARKETING is to get MORE PEOPLE TO BUY more of Your product,
MORE OFTEN, for MORE MONEY.
Fast Company, September 1999
393.
"If anything, e-commerce will cause mom-and-pop-like businesses to proliferate. E-commerce
redefines the neighborhood, the community, and the customer relationship. Instead of creating
limits, it creates access to opportunities."
"Mark," Decatur, Illinois, Fast Company, September 1999
394.
Industry "experts" have dismissed Linux as too complex and geeky for the general public. Then
again, isn't that what they said about the Internet?
Salon.com Advertisement
395.
Your satisfaction is not only our guarantee, it's why we're here. To be perfectly clear, we insist
you're delighted with your purchase. If for any reason, a selection doesn't meet your
expectations, we stand ready with a full refund or exchange.
Restoration Hardware Customer Service Guarantee
396.
Financial Advice.
Anytime.
Anywhere.
Americanexpress.com
397. Loyal Customers are like your hairline. You've got less than you think. And you're
losing more each day.
Netcentives Advertisement
398.
THE WORLD'S SHORTEST SALES COURSE
#1. Know their business.
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
#2. Know your stuff.
399.
“You’re not engineering a web site. You’re engineering a user experience.”
Mohanbir Sawhney, Kellogg Graduate School of Management
400.
“It’s simple: sell to people who want your product; ignore those who don’t.”
Guy Kawasaki, garage.com
401.
“The one thing I’ve learned from my experience is that no matter what you sell, you’ve got to
sell satisfaction.”
Stanley Marcus, Neiman Marcus
402.
“One of the secrets of selling is knowing how to stage a great show.”
Carl Sewell, Sewell Motor Co.
403.
“You have to start with knowledge of your consumers. In our case, we are the consumers: we
live the same life.”
Daymond John, Fubu
404.
E-Gad! Here we are, only a few short years into this new-economy thing, and already we’ve run
the poor letter “e” into the ground. Email, a simple enough application in the beginning, has
been e-viscerated by the e-mergence of e-commerce, which is part of e-business, conducted by ecompanies that have e-strategies. This e-nables them to compete in the e-revolution that is going
on in the e-world. The composite e-ffect is e-nough to turn e-veryone into Sesame Street’s
Oscar the Grouch and announce that “The next e-leven years of the new e-conomy will be
brought to you by the letter ‘e’.” E-nough!
Alan Webber, Fast Company, February 2001
405.
A box without service is a box.
Hewelett Packard advertisement
406.
TAKE THIS JOB AND LOVE IT. When employees are happy, it shows.
Principal Financial Group advertisement
407.
What’s the best way for customers to reach you? Any way they want.
Avaya Communications advertisement
408.
“Higher education IS THE ONLY BUSINESS THAT HAS A CEREMONY for firing its
customers.”
Elliott Masie, The Masie Center
409.
“…when was the last time you went to the store to buy old meat, rotten produce, dried out deli
meat or bakery products, or outdated dairy items?”
Bruce Peterson, VP and General Merchandise Manager, Walmart
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
410.
Guarantee Your satisfaction is not only our guarantee, it's why we're here. To be perfectly clear,
we insist you're delighted with your purchase. If for any reason, a selection doesn't meet your
expectations, we stand ready with a full refund or exchange.
Restoration Hardware, www.restorationhardware.com
411.
Why did many online furniture retailers fail? “They were not run by people who have a passion
for home furnishings. They were run by people who thought that they could build companies
really fast and make a lot of money.”
Mitchell Gold
412.
413.
If we’re going to spend the next 20 years putting little vowels in front of all of the words that
describe the new economy, it’s going to be a long 20 years.
Alan Webber, Fast Company, February 2001
414.
Your Internet business will survive given fundamental business skills and 1 billion dollars of
start up money….maybe!
Richard Feinberg, Purdue University
415.
“An automobile is just a Java browser with tires.”
Scott McNealy, InfoWorld, August 10, 1999
416.
“….brands tell a story and convey a set of values right from the beginning? If you get the story
right, people will connect with it.
Kirk MacGibbon
417.
“What drives these people is not a desire for power but a desire to have a positive influence on
their workplace.”
Darwin Sanoy
418.
“Either you think – or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and
discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald
419.
Dot-coms are “dot-toast.”
IBM CEO Louis Gerstner
420.
We are just kids on the Internet; we’re only seven years old.”
Jeff Mallett
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
421.
ARE YOU AN EBUSINESS – OR AREN’T YOU? HOW DO YOU KNOW?
www.forrester.com
422.
Know them. Reach them. Keep them.
www.iLux.com/keep
423.
Stop Internet Dotcomatosis
www.portalb.com
424. Wap*
*to go laptopless
www.ericsson.com
425.
Success comes from anticipating your customers’ needs before they do.
www.peoplesoft.com
426.
LANGUAGE YOU CAN UNDERSTAND.
UNBIASED GUIDANCE.
IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE WE’RE ACTUALLY
TALKING ABOUT INSURANCE.
Insurance.com
427.
XUMA KICKS ASP
XUMA advertisement
428.
What would your customer service manager do with your Web site if he could?
www.eprise.com
429.
“Who ever reads this stuff? U trust us with your details. We trust u with our service. It’s all a
leap of faith. ☺
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah ……
we will trust and respect each other ☺ we will b here as long as the universe wants us ☺ u will tell all
your friends about us ☺
….yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda
yadda yadda yadda
From the Terms and Conditions of Service Web page of South African
cellular network operator MTN (www.mtnsms.com/registration/tac.asp)
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
430.
Your flair for finding the best deals is uncanny. Again and again , you emerge victorious. Is it
just good luck, or do you know something? 140,000 stores, 30,000 brands. Find out what’s on
sale at stores near you.
Shoppinglist.com
431.
“While bouncing balls and plastic Frisbees may be effective in achieving short-term awareness
of a site … there is not a better marketing tool out there than satisfying the customer.”
The Industry Standard, August 21, 200, pg. 29
432.
Our business model: We succeed when you succeed.
Engage advertisement
433.
Retailers differ by product, not by clicks or bricks.
Creating value is derived from customer motivations, and those will vary by customer and product, but
not “e-” or “re-“
Gary L. Moreau
434.
Your customers won’t always tell you what they want. But we can.
Verbind advertisement
435.
Don’t just compete. Conquer.
Calico advertisement
436.
YOU’LL FIND MUCH AT OUR RESORTS
EXCEPT, PERHAPS, THE WORDS
TO DESCRIBE THEM.
Four Seasons advertisement
437.
“Most of what you and I do in the day-to-day business world is total bullshit!”
Thomas J. Peters
438.
I’ll never have to hear “I’ll get back to you” again.
Siebel advertisement
439.
HERE’S WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO DO.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
MEET WITH YOUR TEAM
DISCUSS A BIG PROJECT
HOLD A STRATEGY SESSION
MAKE A SALES PRESENTATION
CONDUCT A FOCUS GROUP
TRAIN A NEW USER
IMPRESS YOUR TOUGHEST CLIENT
HERE’S HOW YOU’RE GOING TO DO IT.
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
www.CentraNow.com
440.
Marketing so personal you get immediate reactions. 1:1 marketing made easy
Market first advertisement
441.
You’ve been waiting for someone to act like a partner, not a vendor.
You’ve been waiting for an Internet that lives up to its potential.
You’ve been waiting for an e-business approach that’s complete and fully integrated.
You’ve been waiting for someone to help reducte time to market.
You’ve been waiting for a way to simplify e-business infrastructure.
You’ve been waiting for someone to make your life easier.
You’ve been waiting for a partner that solves your problems rather than pushes their products.
You’ve been waiting for someone who won’t disappear once they install.
You’ve been waiting for solutions that won’t become obsolete the second your company grows.
The wait is over. Genuity is here.
www.genuity.com Genuity advertisement
442.
SO you find this house. Victorian. Mammoth kitchen. You want it. You go to your bank. The
mortgage guy looks at your paperwork. Whoops. You’re missing a statement. Month of March.
Oh. But I do my checking here, you say. Can’t you just pull it up? He can’t. First floor, he
says. You go there. The teller shakes her head. We need a written request. By mail. But it’s
simple, you say. I just need March. I’m with the mortgage guy now. DIFFERENT DIVISION,
SHE SAYS. BUT AREN’T YOU THE SAME BANK? “YES AND NO.” SHE SMILES.
THEN YOU SMILE BACK. AND MAKE A REALLY, REALLY big WITHDRAWAL.
Ibm.com/e-business/now
443.
Why make returning as simple as buying? So your customers come back to buy again.
United States Postal Service advertisement
444.
THE NEW RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
If you build an end-to-end
acquisition and retention
solution, consumers will
come to your site. But with
customer-acquisition costs soaring
and your competitors working
around the clock,
YOU DON’T HAVE TIME.
MyPoints advertisement
445.
TAKING IT LIVE IS THE GOAL.
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
TAKING IT PUBLIC IS THE DREAM.
TAKING IT TO YOUR CUSTOMERS FIRST IS THE KEY.
Insight express advertisement www.insightexpress.com
446.
Shopping on the Net isn’t about clicks. It’s about what happens when you click.
Doug Keeley, Industry Standard
447.
There are few sure things in life. Your e-business performance better be one of them.
Resonate advertisement, www.resonate.com
448.
In a tornado, even a turkey can fly!
Corollary: No matter how fast you move, someone will be close behind!
A law of the digital economy: The big will not eat the small. The fast will eat the slow!
“In the fight between an alligator and a bear, the winner will be determined by the terrain” (Jim
Barksdale)
Strategic Thinking for eBusiness
449.
There are three things that are important at Starbucks. Relationships is the first and the other two
don't matter.
Linda Thompson Director- Starbucks Resource Center
450.
Customers with problems have to go through a healing process before they can move on. The
goal is to get the customer to say, “I’m really not happy about what happened, but I can’t thank
you enough for the support you provided to get me through it.”
Leo Colborne
451.
The hardest thing about customer service is to get the people in the field to have a real sense of
urgency. The average guy would die with a problem before calling for help. And some people
just don’t like to face irate customers, so things can get kind of buried.
Mike Ruettgers
452.
Many of us in the service industry are tired of being punching bags for abusive customers to hit
whenever they feel like it. If customers really want a sympathetic ear when they call a customer
service rep, they need to mind their manners.
J.S.Bausman
453.
“Service is bad because it’s hard to do. The secret to good service, really, is to treat your
customer like you’d like to be treated yourself.” Somewhere between point one and point two, I
missed the hard part.
Don Peppers, One to One
454.
It’s people who make technology effective – not the other way around.
Lorraine Rieger, Sprint West Management Inc.
455.
Provide a service that is so great that it creates its own demand.
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
Swatick Majumdar
456.
I drink a case of Diet Coke a week, and as far as Coca-Cola is concerned, that’s it. I get no
discount for my devotion, no price break or special status for my loyalty. When I walk into my
local Stop & Shop to buy my soda, I’m just another customer even though I have been drinking
Diet Coke for 27 years. That’s crazy. I am not just another customer – I happen to be one of
Coca-Cola’s best customers.
John Ellis, Fast Company
457.
I placed my first order with Amazon in 1997 and have been a steady customer since. In four
years of making purchases for myself and for others, I’ve found what I needed, ordered it,
received a flurry of emails about my orders, and then gotten either thank-you notes or what I
ordered. I’ve never had to contact Amazon about any matter. I have had, in essence, no
customer service from Amazon. Put another way, I have had such perfect customer service, the
service itself has been transparent. That is exactly what Amazon wants.
Charles Fishman, Fast Company
458.
I just don’t know why they’re shooting at us. All we want to do is bring them democracy and
white bread. Transplant the American dream. Freedom. Achievement. Hyperacidity.
Affluence. Flatulence. Technology. Tension. The inalienable right to an early coronary sitting
at your desk while plotting to stab your boss in the back. That’s entertainment.
Hawkeye Pierce, MASH
459.
Are you eating breakfast cereal or is that just a bad telephone line?
Klinger, MASH
460.
Did you ever try to outsmart your 17 year old daughter? Well, don’t try to outsmart your
customers, either.
Rick Stewart, Chief Executive Officer, Frontier Cooperative Herbs, From the
Customer is Always Right, Armen Kabodian
461.
A smile costs nothing – and in the hospitality industry, it means everything.
Bryan D. Lanton, Chairman &CEO, Holiday Inn Worldwide, From the
is Always Right, Armen Kabodian
Customer
462.
Customer Service does not come from a manual…It comes from the heart. When it comes to
taking care of the customer…you can never do too much and there is NO wrong way if it comes
from the heart!
Debra J. Fields, President, Mrs. Fields, Inc., From the Customer is Always Right, Armen
Kabodian
463.
Stop thinking “customer satisfaction,” start thinking “customer enrichment.” A blind focus on
customer satisfaction binds a business to the here and now, to articulated customer needs.
“Customer enrichment” leaps over the paradigms of the present to new technologies, new
products, new approaches and, ultimately, wonderful new markets.
Melvin R. Goodes, Chairman & CEO, Warner-Lambert Companyrbs, From the
Customer is Always Right, Armen Kabodian
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
464.
It’s a New Jersey approach to playing TV music. We’re very intense about it. It’s something I
learned from Bruce a long time ago: you owe it to your audience to give your all every night.
Mark Weinberg, The E Street Band
465.
The only thing that keeps us alive is our brilliance. The only thing protecting our brilliance is
our patents.
Edwin Land
466.
Next to knowing all about your own business, the best thing to know is all about the other
fellow’s business.
John D. Rockefeller
467.
Be everywhere, do everything, and never fail to astonish the customer.
Margaret Getchell
468.
If the spirit of business adventure is dulled, this country will cease to hold the foremost position
in the world.
Andrew W. Mellon
469.
Several customers stopped me just to say how much they loved our associates and how a trip to
the Wal-Mart store made them feel better.
Lee Scott, President and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
470.
It’s no longer a matter of customer satisfaction. At 1-800-FLOWERS we strive for “Customer
Jubilation.” Every one of our employees is challenged to give the customer something to brag
about. That creates word-of-mouth (WOM) and it’s good old WOM that makes us more
profitable, able to attract great talent, and assures us a corporate culture that is prideful and
motivated. It’s a great cycle.
Jim F. McCann, President, 1-800 Flowers, Inc.
471.
Today, satisfying customers is not enough. We must focus on making our customers successful.
That means anticipating their needs and surrounding them with a full circle of service making it
easy for them to justify, acquire, install, operate, maintain and upgrade our products over the
lifetime of those products.
Jodie K. Glore, President, Allen-Bradley Co.
472.
Throughout the company, we are no longer measuring results against our expectations. Because
our opinions don’t count. They are irrelevant. It’s only the customers’ expectations that matter.
Say we accomplish some task 93 percent of the time. We don’t take it upon ourselves to move
our goal to 95 percent. Instead we ask customers what they need. Maybe they think it’s
essential for us to be at 100 percent. Or maybe 30 percent would be more adequate. They call
the shots.
Richard C. Notebaert, Chairman & CEO, Ameritech Corporation
473.
In the end, it is the CUSTOMER’S perception that matters! Delivering what WE think is
superior customer service makes no difference at all.
Larry Dorfman, President & CEO, Automobile Protection Corp. --APCO
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
474.
Make serving the cutomer an obsession.
Dr. R. L. Qualls, President & CEO, Baldor Electric Company
475.
The polling place of the retail business is at the cash registers. Here, Customer Satisfaction can
be easily measured in terms of both the size and the frequency of the transactions. There is no
such thing as customer “dissatisfaction” in the competitive world of retailing.
Leonard Riggio, Chairman & CEO, Barnes & Noble Inc.
476.
Customers don’t care how big you are. They don’t care about organizational charts or how many
divisions you have. They want the person standing in front of them to be able to solve their
problems.
Vernon R. Loucks Jr., Chariman & CEO, Baxter International Inc.
477.
“Customer Satisfaction” is the true fuel of the free enterprise system. In a free market
environment, traditional indicators of success, such as sales and market share growth, are only
indicators of a company’s level of “Customer Satisfaction.”
Dane A. Miller, President & CEO, Biomet, Inc.
478.
Frozen Spinach $1.25
Naval oranges $.75 for 2
Haggan Daz
$2.99 a pint
Buying it in a supermarket that thrills, educates, and entertains....PRICELESS
Richard Feinberg, Purdue University
479.
Customer Satisfaction is the oxygen of life at Worth Magazine. In everything we do, customer
satisfaction is Job One. From the beginning, I put my phone number in my “Forward Thinking”
column; I read and respond to every letter that Worth magazine receives; and I am constantly
watching our renewal rates. Why? Because a satisfied reader is not only money in the bank, but
the emotional currency that makes the publishing Worth Magazine truly worthwile.
W. Randall jones, Founder & CEO, Capital Publishing Company, Inc.
480.
I believe you have attained “customer satisfaction” when customers return to your store because
they want to not because they have to.
Richard T. Takata, President & CEO, Eagle Hardware & Garden, Inc.
481.
When he opened his first store in 1920, Eddie Bauer, the founder of our company, wrote Our
Creed. Today, nearly three-quarters of a century later, this single statement still exemplifies the
meaning of Customer Satisfaction and is our final measurement of success: “To give you such
outstanding quality, value, service, and guarantee that we may be worthy of your high esteem.”
Richard Fersch, President, Eddie Bauer, Inc.
482.
A journalist told me recently, “You talk so much about customer satisfaction that you’d think
Ford created it.” I told him, “It’s just the opposite: Ford didn’t create customer satisfaction –
customer satisfaction created Ford.”
Louis R. Ross, The Ford Motor Company
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
483.
A customer is really satisfied when he or she not only comes back but brings someone with
them.
Hyrum W. Smith, Chairman & CEO, Franklin Quest Company
484.
I get a thousand opportunities a year to make a decision in favor of the customer. Each time I
blow it, it costs me about $10,000 in lost sales. At that price – of course the customer is always
right.
Rick Stewart, Chief Executive Officer, Frontier Cooperative Herbs
485.
Did you ever try to outsmart your 17 year old daughter? Well, don’t try to outsmart your
customers, either.
Rick Stewart, Chief Executive Officer, Frontier Cooperative Herbs
486.
A smile costs nothing --- and in the hospitality industry, it means everything.
Bryan D. Lanton, Chairman & CEO, Holiday Inn Worldwide
487.
What Hughes Electronics must be more than anything else is “a customer company.” Our
customers will direct our technology. Our customers will determine our diversification. Our
customers will dictate our growth.
C. Michael Armstrong, Chairman & CEO, Hughes Electronics Corporation
488.
We’ve got to get back to a fundamental issue, and that is: We all work first for the customer.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.,
489.
Turn on the customer, make him or her feel special. Treat all customers like you’re darn happy
to have them in the store. Never be satisfied. And you do whatever you need to, right at that
point in time, to make sure when that customer leaves that McDonald’s restaurant, he or she is
happy.
Michael R. Quinlan, Chairman & CEO, McDonald’s Corporation
490.
We exist to serve our customers. In pursuit of this customer satisfaction vision directive we will
understand our customers’ needs and expectations as never before. Based on this knowledge, we
will empower our people to respond proactively to serve customers.
D. Richard McFerson, President & CEO, Nationwide Insurance
491.
We’d better take care of our customers, or someone else will.
Gary Richard, President & CEO, P.C. Richard & Son, Inc.
492.
Better, Better, Best. Don’t settle for less, till better is Best.
Gary Richard, President & CEO, P.C. Richard and Son, Inc.
493.
Do what is right for the customer.
Corporate credo, Talbots, Inc.
494.
Before you build a better mousetrap, it helps to know if there are any mice out there.
Mortimer B. Zuckerman
495.
Don’t climb a tree to look for fish.
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
Chinese proverb
496.
Be everywhere, do everything and never fail to astonish the customer.
Macy’s motto
497.
Can you blame the merchant for selling something to a paying customer? How many shirts do
you have in your closet that you can’t believe you bought?
Joseph Grundfest, Stanford University
498.
Have you answered more than 10 customer questions today? If so – you are in the customer
service business.
Mike Trotter, Purdue University
499.
Our customers expect us to be the best because we’re Wal-Mart. For years and years, we’ve told
our customers they can trust us. It’s up to each one of us every day to earn our customer’s trust
and respect.
Don Cannon, Senior VP of Food Merchandising
500.
A box without sevice is a box.
Hp Invent advertisment
501.
Freedom, decisiveness, faith, spirit, motivation, leadership, desire, guts, determination, joy,
vision, nerve, tenacity, moxie. No one said running a small business would be easy.
SmartAge.com advertisement
502.
SO you get this urgent call. It’s your client. “Did my Boise shipment go out?” You’re a
thousand miles from anywhere. You don’t know. “I’ll get back to you.” You call Patricia, the
sales manager. She’s not in. So you e-mail her. Then you think, maybe the factory supervisor.
You call his assistant. He’s in a meeting. Can he call you back? Your phone rings. It’s the
client again. “Did the parts ship, yes or no?” Another call is coming in. You click over. It’s
Patricia. She got your e-mail. But she’s in her car. She doesn’t know anyting. You click back
over. Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? No Client.
IBM Advertisement
503.
So you finally spring for it. The big kahuna. The mother of all gas grills. You get it home. You
put it together. And . . . no flame. The manual says jiggle the gas line. You jiggle. Nothing.
You call customer service. They put you on hold. So you wait. And wait. And listen to polka.
And not just any polka. Synthesized polka. HELP. You just have a quick question. It’s getting
dark. The kids are starving. Now they want tacos. “Can we go get tacos?!” WHAT THE
HECK, YOU THINK. YOU’LL BE OUT ANYWAY. RETURNING the STUPID GRILL.
IBM Advertisement
504.
Click Some Butt.
Adauction.com advertisement
505.
How long do your Internet customers wait for a response? Customers who don’t get support
become someone else’s customers.
Brigade advertisement
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
506.
When you realize that your customers are just like you, the whole dynamic of your interaction
with them changes.
Elizabeth Spaulding, LL Bean, Inc.
507.
There were a few reasons we chose Broadvision to personalize and integrate our e-business. The
customer, the customer, the customer.
Broadvision advertisement
508.
To find your way through the maze of auto insurance, just follow this highly detailed, step-bystep guide. STEP 1. esurance.com
esurance advertisement
509.
It’s Marketing 101. You gotta use e-mails and you’ve gotta customize them.
Jeff Steinberg, MotherNature’s chief marketing officer
510.
You’ve been waiting for someone to act like a partner, not a vendor.
You’ve been waiting for an Internet that lives up to its potential.
You’ve been waiting for an e-business approach that’s complete and fully integrated.
You’ve been waiting for someone to help reduce time to market.
You’ve been waiting for a way to simplify e-business ifrastructure.
You’ve been waiting for someone that can make your life easier.
You’ve been waiting for a partner that solves your problems rather than pushes their products.
You’ve been waiting for someone who won’t disappear once they install.
You’ve been waiting for solutions that won’t become obsolete the second your company grows.
The wait is over. Genuity is here.
www. Genuity.com Genuity advertisement
511.
“ICEBERG? WHAT ICEBERG?” Or, the importance of being mission-ready.
Interworld advertisement
512.
But I don’t need my toothpaste delivered.com
KilltheDot.com BlowtheDotOutYourAss.cor advertisement
513.
Shopping on the Net isn’t about clicks. It’s about what happens when you click.
Doug Keeley, in The Industry Standard March 20, 2000
514.
WWI
WWII
WWW.
Interland advertisement
515.
The average Internet download takes 22 seconds. That’s 22 seconds longer than a 10-year-old
wants to wait.
Lucent Technology advertisement
Why should I wait longer for an Internet web site than I do a McDonalds drive through
order?
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
516.
Simple to the point of “duh.”
Hewlett-Packard advertisement
517.
The Taj Mahal was built to last forever. Does your company share the same vision?
Epoch advertisement
518.
Technology catches the eye. Brand wins the heart.
Leo Burnett
519.
We don’t have 120 years to sit around and wait for our brand to develop. We need to distinguish
ourselves now – to show that we’re edgier and out front.
Evelyn Ashley, Red Hot Law Group
520.
You have 90 days to take your company to the internet.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
KPMG Consulting advertisement
521.
Our restaurants are about more than food. They’re about inclusiveness, value, comfort, trust,
and relationships.
Lou Kaucic, Applebee’s
522.
We thought that we were selling the transportation of goods; in fact, we were selling peace of
mind.
Frederick W. Smith, Fedex Corp.
523.
Timex is interested in the real estate of the wrist. It’s location, location, location. The wrist is
the most exciting and accessible place on the body.
Susie Watson, Timex Corp.
524.
My favorite question for entrepreneurs is, “What is a typical day in the life of your customer?”
Because if you don’t understand what your customer does at 8 a.m., 4 p.m., or 8 p.m., you don’t
know how your product fits into their life.
Yogen Dalal, Mayfield Fund
525.
Science is helping us all live longer. What a great time to develop a customer loyalty program.
United States Postal Service advertisement
526.
Solve a problem..help one customr. Fix a process help thousands.
Charles Scwabb
527.
Questions provide feedback about which values should be attended to and how much energy
should be devoted to them. What questions should we be asking if we want people to focus on
integrity? On trust? On customer/client satisfaction? On quality? On innovation? On growth?
On personal responsibility?
Kouzes Posner, “The Leadership Challenge”
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
528.
Notice how customers use your products and services, then figure out how to make it easier for
them to do so. Adjust your practices and pricing to support the ways in which customers want to
use your products.
Patricia B. Seybold, “The Customer Revolution”
529.
Customers want to take ownership and control over the products and services they purchase and
use. By offering them services that make it easy for them to better manage their assets, you’ll
build closer relationships with them.
Patricia B. Seybold, “The Customer Revolution”
530.
Many customers also want to “strut their stuff.” Think about how your products and services
can make your customers look good. Give them ways to amplify that experience.
Patricia B. Seybold, “The Customer Revolution”
531.
The Tipping Point is the biography of an idea, and the idea is very simple. It is that the best way
to understand the emergence of fashion trends, the ebb and flow of crime waves, or, for that
matter, the transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or
the phenomena of word of mouth, or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark
everyday life is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors
spread just like viruses do.
Malcolm Gladwell, “The Tipping Point”
532.
Customers really notice consistent execution. We’ve already talked a lot about delivering a
consistent branded experience across interaction touchpoints and distribution channels. Now
let’s talk about what’s required to execute that in delivering products and services.
Patricia B. Seybold, “The Customer Revolution”
533.
Very simply, understanding consumer behavior is good business. A basic marketing concept
states that firms exist to satisfy consumers’ needs. These needs can only be satisfied to the
extent that marketers understand the people or organizations that will use the products and
services they are trying to sell, and that they do so better than their competitors.
Michael R. Solomon, “Consumer Behavior”
534.
Marketers have realized that a key to success is building relationships between brands and
customers that will last a lifetime.
Michael R. Solomon, “Customer Behavior”
535.
Asking for more information requires listening with an open mind and making a genuine effort
to understand the criticism. When the customer provides additional information, it is helpful for
the salesperson to check perceptions and actively listen to verify an understanding of the new
information.
“Professional Selling”
536.
You’re either part of the solution or part of the problem.
Eldridge Cleaver
537.
All that matters is value – the ultimate value of what one does.
James Hilton
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
538.
The customer is always right.
Unk
539.
The enormous surplus of retail facilities guarantees that the customer is king.
“The Retail Environment”
540.
Consumption is just as much shaped by the supply side as by demand. At the ballpark people
pay high prices for lousy hotdogs because that’s all there is. If health food stores replaced
taverns we would all live longer. Consumers are constrained to buy the goods available at the
locations available.
“The Retail Environment”
541.
A fundamental approach to customer service can be continuously applied at all business levels.
Unknown
542.
Establishing technology standards-creating a “franchise”-in the software business is the key to
market domination and to financial success.
“Selling Microsoft”
543.
When you are skinning your customers you should leave some skin to grow again so you can
skin them again
Nikita Khrushchev
544.
Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem – in my opinion – to characterize our age.
Albert Einstein
545.
A salespersons most overlooked resource is their own creativity.
Unknown
546.
Creating a positive atmosphere at customer meetings is the best way to ensure that your
customers will interact with you in a positive, constructive way.
“Selling Microsoft”
547.
There’s always a better way to do everything. It’s up to you to find it.
Thomas Edison
548.
If you always have a smile on your face the customer will never know how much you really hate
them.
Ryan Postlewaite- Purdue Student
549.
It’s one thing for people to buy your products. It’s another for them to tattoo your products
name on their bodies.
Harley-Davidson
550.
Virtual Vineyard.com is now Wine.com. Wake the dog, call the neighbors!
Wine.com advertisement
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
551.
It’s one thing for people to buy your products. It’s another for them to tattoo your product’s
name on their bodies.
Harley Davidson
552.
Get in, get out, get on with your life.
Chili’s
553.
If you notice that someone has stolen all your stuff you can call the cops. Yet right now when
you are not paying attention one of your employees is losing your customers…You not only let
them do it, you let them do it again…and again…and again.
Richard Feinberg, Purdue University
554.
The Kotler Doctrine:
1965-1980: RAF (ready.aim.fire.)
1980-1995: RFA (ready.fire.aim)
1995-????: FFF (fire!fire!fire!)
Tom Peters
555.
We tend to forget who pays our salaries. It’s the customer. We should remind ourselves
constantly that we need to deliver what they want. And we need to be able to deliver different
things to different customers. The minute we forget that, the reason for our being is gone.
Lars Nyberg, CEO of NCR
556.
It is not unusual for Feider’s customers to describe her as a force of nature. This is not because
they feel presured by her but because after they her many soon find themselves in the grip of
musical ambitions they never knew they harbored. These ambitions often include buying a
specific piano that they feel they can no longer live without, even if it strains both their living
rooms and their bank accounts.
The New Yorker Magazine
557.
Every hour, 10 diamond rings, 120 PC’s and 1,200 articles of clothing are sold on eBay. A
Corvette is sold on the site every three hours.
M. Whitman, CEO of eBay
558.
Meg Speaks, not just the CEO, she’s also a customer.
Miguel Helft, The Industry Standard
559.
Good service is memorable service. You have five senses. Good service is the sixth.
Ali Kasikci, Penisula Beverly Hills Hotel
600.
It’s not the site…It’s the stuff
Richard Feinberg, Purdue University
601.
Stores fail to be honest with consumers, shoppers fail to treat retail workers like human beings,
bosses fail to help employees…employees fail to help one another and most of all the employee
fails to find a way to fit in, make the sale, satisfy his bosses or his customers. Or himself.
Rob Walker NYTimes Book review of Selling Ben Cheever
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
602.
You know a lot about your customers. You know who they are, where they live, what their
buying habits are. And if you’re like most companies, you’ve done absolutely nothing with that
pile of market intelligence. It just sits there, earning you no money and creating zero shareholder
value.
Larry Seldon and Geoffrey Colvin, Fast Company
603.
There’s always room for improvement. It’s the biggest room in the house.
Louise Heath Leber
604.
In business, the competition will bite you if you keep running. If you stand still, they will
swallow you.
William Knudsen
605.
The highest of distinctions is service to others.
King George VI
606.
I remember one caller who said..”I’d like to get this stuff from Chicago to Atlanta in two
days…and we said..”We can get it there in three days”. The customer thanked us and hung up.
We didn’t think there was anything wrong with that. The attitude was if you don’t like what we
do, too bad.”
Bill Zolars, CEP Yellow Freight System
607.
If you believe you’re in the business of serving the customer better, then you have to move the
center of gravity of the organization to where the business meets the customers.
Feargal Quinn, Superquinn Supermarket
608.
GAK---God Alone Knows
Tom Peters
609.
SAV---Screw around vigorously
Tom Peters
610.
For things I do today, the computer is often confusing.
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, discussing the future
611.
I demand clarity. If I can’t easily find what I’m looking for on a site map or with the search
feature, I don’t have the patience to wade through a site for it.
Jason Kuperman, Zombo.com
612.
Xerox was considered to be the company of the century, but I knew better. There it was, all in
one place: the bureaucracy, the great strategy that never got implemented, the slavish attention
to numbers rather than to people, the reverence for MBAs – you name it. If it could be done
wrong, Xerox was doing it wrong.
Tom Peters
613.
The CEO of General Motors announced that GM wasn’t in the business of making cars, it was in
the business of making money. (This came as a shock to most of GM’s customers, who were in
the market to buy a car—or even better, a way of life—not to spend money).
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
Tom Peters
614.
Your customers are looking for new ways to access your call center. Is this the message you are
sending them….www.getlost.com
Ad for Nortel Networks
615.
The Internet changes everything – but it doesn’t change everything overnight.
Janey Place Mellon
616.
Good service is MEMORABLE SERVICE. You have five senses. Good service is the sixth.
Ali Kasika, Penisula Beverly Hills Hotel
617.
Don’t make people wait to check out. Stay in stock on items you’re supposed to have. Train
salespeople to know the merchandise and be helpful and friendly. If you have shopping carts,
make sure they have four round wheels.
Brad Leland, Newton, Mass
618.
Even car dealers know that sooner or later, the last stupid customer is going to walk through the
door.”
Mark Lorimer, CEO of Autobytel
619.
Some people want customers who click. I want customers who buy.
Flycast Advertisement
620.
This is a very simple business. When we complicate it we really mess things up. People always
ask me, “What’s your strategy for growth?” I always say it’s simple. I tell people don’t make it
too complicated. Each day we must make Coca-Cola more acceptable, more available, more
affordable to more people in more situations than the day before. Put another way, success
largely depends on our ability to make it impossible for the consumer to escape Coca-Cola.
Roberto Goizueta, Beverage Digest Interview, 1991
621.
We thought the creation and operation of web sites was mysterious, Nobel Prize stuff, the
province of the wild-eyed and purle-haired. Any company, old or new, that does not see this
technology as literally as important as breathing could be on its last breath.
Jack Welch
622.
You don’t have to spend your time visiting everybody. Just see the customers who will give you
good feedback.
Kay yun, Yuninetworks Inc.
623.
The window of opportunity doesn’t stay open for very long. That’s why as soon as we’ve
defined a compelling product, we devot all of our energies to blasting through that window…
Bill Hunt, Raza Foundries Inc.
624.
There are thousands of people who can help you improve your site. They’re called users.
Jackie Cohen and Maryann Jones Thompson
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html
625.
What will be the top three qualities of successful Internet companies next year? (1) luck; (2)
luck; (3) luck.
James Fallows, Industry Standard columnist and author
626.
There were a few reasons we chose Broadvision to personalize and integrate our e-busines: THE
CUSTOMER, The Customer, the customer.
BroadVision advertisement
627.
If the Internet doesn’t make business easier, what’s the point?
Pedestal
628.
The road to online success is paved with the short sighted, the slow and the unprepared.
Gordon Brooks, President and CEO, Breakaway Solutions
629.
I go there because they have everything and their prices are great.
Mark haines CNBC 4/9/02 commenting on a Prudential Analysts report that Wal-Mart is
well positioned for growth because of their fixtures and lighting and cement floors.
630.
How does the lender end up the leader in customer satisfaction? Easy. One happy customer at a
time.
Countrywide Home Loans Advantage
Center for Customer-Driven Quality
www.cfs.purdue.edu/conscirt/quality.html