Rating: 
Summary: Some good ideas, timeless
Review: I was a little unsure of the "parable" style of it, it just came across as a little hokey to me. However, the ideas are solid and the examples very interesting. I was able to take some notes and actually use them in our recent staff meeting. It was worth the price, we actually got some good ideas out of it.
Rating: 
Summary: Mere Cotton Candy
Review: Blanchard gets two stars for choosing to write a book on the importance of customer service. Beyond his choice of topics, however, this silly little screed doesn't have much going for it. Once you buy into the premise that customer service is important (as, of course, you should), your next concern will logically be what to do about it. There's nothing in this book that will provide you with any practical help in that regard. Like most of Blanchard's other books, this is a lot like cotton candy...cloyingly sweet, lots of fluff, and very little substance.Blanchard considers himself to be a spiritual guy. (The title he uses at his company is Chief Spiritual Officer.) As a result, Raving Fans, like other Blanchard-branded books, employs a format that is self-consciously based on the Biblical parable. Perhaps he considers this to be an homage but it just comes across as pretentious. If a reader was genuinely undecided on the value of customer service, then this book might be worthwhile. But for the vast majority of readers who understand that customer service is important and want to know how to get better at it, Raving Fans isn't going to provide any practical guidance.
Rating:
Summary: Not just another Blanchard book
Review: This is not just another Blanchard book delivering another important business message via a parable, this time on the secrets to customer service. The secrets are concisely delivered with three memorable points. Decide what you want. Discover what your customer wants. Deliver more than they need. A simple approach that is harder to execute than it is to read about. Well worth the short time it takes to read about it. Remember that the hard work is in the execution. There is no quick fix to develop and sustain raving fans. But neither is the task impossible. Go for it. Good luck!
Rating: 
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: This is a Blanchard classic. It talks about how to create a customer service attitude, not just the techniques of good service. You should also read Full Steam Ahead! by Ken Blanchard which shows you how to create a vision that really works. These two books together will help you create a "culture of great service."
Rating:
Summary: Not my style
Review: The information I learned from listening to this book on tape was somewhat usefull. My biggest complaint revolves around the presentation of the material. The juvenile voice "acting" bordered on being insulting. I very much regret this purchase.
Rating: 
Summary: There is nothing revolutionary in this book
Review: This book is a waste of money and time (even though it only takes 1-2 hours to read this book). It is amazing to me that Ken Blanchard could charge $ for a book that is based on common sense and could be summarized in one page without losing any content. The premise of the book is that there are three "secrets" to customer services which are decide what you want, find out what your customers want and deliver the vision plus one percent. All the book is saying is that a business should have a vision of what it wants to accomplish, talk to its customers to ensure that this vision is aligned to customer expectations, and then deliver the vision consistently while always looking to improve (plus one). There are a few fictional examples of businesses that have excellent customer service but definitely not much depth at all.
Rating:
Summary: Planet Earth calling Ken Blanchard, come in, Ken.....
Review: This book is a must read for all teenagers considering a career at Disney World. "Charlie" is the central male character. He plays the part of a benevolent Fairy Godmother. The "Celestial Equal Opprtunities legislation" was looking for a male candidate, and ol' Charlie fit the bill. He's sent to earth to benefit the business world with three wonderful and mysterious secrets of success;
"DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT"
"DISCOVER WHAT THE CUSTOMER WANTS"
"DELIVER THE VISION PLUS ONE PERCENT"
Powerful stuff. Charlie takes under his gossamer wing an insecure young company manager, and with the help of some fairy dust,
they visit several of Charlie's star pupils' buisinesses.
Red carpets are rolled out for department store shoppers and white carnations are pinned to their clothing as they enter. There are no waiting lines at the check-out counters, and if the store runs out of the item you're looking for, the manager will cheerfully send an employee to purchase it from his competition (while you're in the store shopping),
gift wrap it, and not charge any extra for the trouble. Valet parking at the grocery store by employees in bright green uniforms, store "advisors" to assist and shop with you, free shoe-shines for Daddy, and a day-care center for the rug-rats while Mommy loads up the shopping cart. And customers drive from forty miles away for the pleasure of
the experience. That would be like driving from Cocoa Beach to Orlando for your weekly food supplies.
In this dream world, the employees are all exceptionally thoughtful, energetic, and aim to please. Kind of like the
Stepford Wives, except the business owners in this yarn have traded in their employees for look-a-like Stepford gas station attendants, grocery store clerks, and taxi cab drivers, all willing to be happy and content with low paying, menial, nowhere jobs. The simplicity of the writing style is suitable for ages six and up, as the following passage illustrates;
'"I'm not in touch with reality," the Area Manager thought.
"I've already gone off the deep end." "No you haven't," said the stranger, reading the Area Manager's mind. "Nothing is more real than your Fairy Godmother. You'll want to remember that."
"You can't be my Fairy Godmother," the Area Manager challenged, "you're a man"'..... On the back cover of this important work are accolades from presidents of well known, billion dollar companies.
It boggles the mind of this layman to try and figure out what prompted such reviews. My only conclusion is this; rich people really ARE different, and for them to pass off this drivel as a great common sense approach to improved customer service proves beyond a doubt that aliens do exist.
Rating:
Summary: Want to make your organization shine above the competition?
Review: An incredible book that helps the reader on a journey towards creating a customer friendly organization. Simply put, this book hits the nail on the head...satisfied customers are simply not good enough, you must create raving fans! I am CEO of Brighton Commercial Furnishings, LLC with locations around Florida, and since implementing the three easy 'secrets' revealed in this book, my company has enjoyed monthly double-digit growth...and we have done it mostly from referals from our raving fans! The raving fan letters are piling up, too! Thanks Ken & Sheldon for an awesome book!
Rating:
Summary: Raving Fans: One piece of the excellence puzzle
Review: Raving fans is the story of a manager that finds himself in charge of a failing department. He is given the position with the understanding that he HAS to fix things, and fix them quickly. To the rescue comes his "fairy godmother" Charlie-a guardian angel with a penchant for golf and a great deal of information about how to make customers more than satisfied. Through this parable the manager and the reader learn there are three rules for making your customers "Raving Fans". First, decide what you want. Second, discover what the customer wants. Third, deliver plus one. Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles have done an excellent job of boiling down excellent customer service to its essence. The rules are easy to read and simple to understand. But, like most things of consequence they will take time to master. This book is well worth the hour or two it will take to read. However, delivering excellent service is only part of the equation. To have a truly profitable well-run organization you also need to have excellent leadership, a highly motivated team, and value-driven goals. While this book touches on these subjects it certainly doesn't do them justice. For a clearer picture I would also recommend reading "Gung-Ho!", "Leadership By The Book", and "The One Minute Manager" -all part of Ken Blanchard's library of leadership materials. All of them are quick reads, and amazingly informative. Together they create an excellent picture of how a successful, value-centered organization should be run.
Rating: 
Summary: A fan but not a raving one
Review: Raving Fans is a decent business text and a nice break from some of the more academic titles out there. Like most Ken Blanchard titles, the book is a very easy and quick read. Its value for the time invested is therefore good (but not great). The most important teaching from this book was that you can't settle for simply "satisfied" customers. Service expectations are often so low that people claim to be satisfied when indeed they are not. This leaves you vulnerable to any competitor that merely raises the bar on service. This is not rocket science. Like the rest of the book, the advice given is practical albeit simplistic. Raving Fans suffers from a lack of real-world examples. The fictional stories are handy for getting one to think about creative service ideas. Unfortunately, there is a lack of supporting details to show how these ideas translate to profitability. You can't grab onto these ideas and say to a doubting associate; "Of course this can work. This is just how (insert name of real business here) did it!" If you don't have much time to read about customer service ideas, I would pass on this book and go directly to Carl Sewell's book "Customers for Life". Sewell owns a real business and discusses the real-world issues of increasing customer service levels including compensation incentives, costs, service abuses and bottom line results. I felt that Sewell's book was a much better value for the time invested.
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