Customers For Life: How To Turn That One-Time Buyer Into a Lifetime Customer

Rating:
Summary: A must read if you want to get better!
Review: I manage a car dealership, and our management team is going to have every employee in the dealership read the book and report on what they learned. It will change their thinking, just like it changed our thinking. It will change yours too. We MUST look at every transaction as a piece to a bigger picture puzzle, and this book reminds us of the the "how's" and "why's."

PS. Even if you are not in the "car business", this book will change the way you think about interacting with people. Simply put, it makes you want to give 110% in everything you do.

Rating:
Summary: No kidding-- this is a great book!
Review: I was deeply skeptical when a friend handed this book to me-- suit, grin, car salesman? What did that have to do with consultancy to media companies? What did this have to do with anything?

No joke-- it has to do with *everything* in business.

A great focused reminder about where to spend your energy and attention if you want to grow your business. This doesn't just repeat the same old motivational seminar stuff that seems to populate so many of the business books out there.

It's a quick read with good advice illustrated by real life examples. What more can you ask for?

Rating:
Summary: Customer for Life means business for life
Review: If you want to keep your customers and bring in new ones this is the book for you. Carl not only knows that customers are the life blood of a business but how the employees are a key to it. If you want your dealership (or any business) running at top speed, this is the book to read. I highly recommend it to my dealership clients.

Rating:
Summary: Readable, a success story, with application to your business
Review: Sewell Cadillac is a world class organization visited annually by Japanese Businesses to evaluate his style of management. This is the most readable book on business since the One Minute Manager. Pracital business experiences which can be applied to any business not just a car dealership. Example: 'Threat a customer as you would your best friend Don't charge for the small stuff.' I bought 34 copies for all my managers. You'll pick it up read it in a few hours and then read it again.

Rating:
Summary: Customer for Life
Review: Summary:

We live in a customer economy. Customers control the way of doing business. It is necessary for the company to put customer¡¦s need at the core. This book provides many practical tactics to turn what customer needs into actions.

Structurally, this book can be divided into three aspects: customer, employees and physical environment. And in each aspect, author will introduce some interesting tactics. For customer aspect, Carl suggests that company should ask customer their preference instead of just assuming what customer like. For employees aspect, Carl realizes that ¡§if you want your employees to be polite to your customer, you have to be polite to your employees¡¨. For physical environment aspect, Carl thinks that ¡§every impression is important¡¨, therefore all physical environment even a restroom should be treated well.

Comment:

Advantages:

Although minor, still need to care

For a student, this book really gives us many practical way of doing business as well as the proper manner when dealing with customers.
One of the insight that this book bring to me is ¡§although minor, still need to care¡¨. Customer will not very appreciate if company does all thing right, since customer think it is company¡¦s responsibility to do so. Also, customer will dissatisfy if company does not do well in a minor aspect such as toilet because customer will afraid how a company treat customer good if they cannot treat toilet well. Overall speaking, this book can give reader understand this concept.

Linkage between customer, employees and physical environment

After reading the whole book, I understand more about the relationship of customer, employees and physical environment. Employees and physical environment are two vital elements which are influence customers directly. Therefore, if company want to retain and satisfy customers, it is critical for them to put effort the aspects of employees and physical environment.

Disadvantage:

Some ideas may not be applied in other industries

Since the author run the business of car dealers, the content inevitable focus on car dealer. This may reduce the attractiveness of this book since some of the tactics cannot apply to other industry.

Rating:
Summary: I was amazed that this appllied to my business, too
Review: When my friend, a retailer, suggested I read this book, I had my doubts. I wasn't sure how much I could learn, since I own a b-to-b company.
Well, I learned a lot. The lessons here applied to my business as well. In fact I have borrowed three or four things so four, and they are helping make my buisness better.