Creating raving fans

Raving Fans is popular among my upper-level managers (so much so that staff are occassionally exhorted to create "raving fans"), so I thought I'd take a look. There are some sound principles of customer service buried in this very brief book, but the parable delivery style is inane and condescending. The book design, with different amounts of text on every page, is distracting and clearly intended to turn a 50-page booklet into a 130-page hardback that can be marketed for $22. I appreciate the customer service philosophy that underlies Raving Fans, and will try to take it to heart as much as someone who isn't responsible for policy can, which I think boils down to going out of your way to solve problems whenever possible. But frankly I show more am not a raving fan. show less

Like most business parables, this had to grow on me while reading through it. Does provide some keen insight into creating and maintaining an attainable customer service mindset, and is a pretty quick read.

Recommended for those looking for customer service insight, or if you're just a sucker for the business parable genre.

The concepts in this book are amazing, and the idea behind the presentation is great, too. The actual presentation, however...

Holy crap, the writing in this book is bad. I mean really fucking bad. I spent half the time wanting to put down my highlighter and pick up a red pen and start making corrections. There's such a thing as good cheesy dialogue, and oh my god this book misses the mark hardcore. I'm glad that I read it, but man do I wish someone else had written it.

Five stars for the customer service concepts
Five stars for the presentation concept
No stars for the writing

"""Your customers are only satisfied because their expectations are so low and because no one else is doing better. Just having satisfied customers isn't good enough anymore. If you really want a booming business, you have to create Raving Fans.""
This, in a nutshell, is the advice given to a new Area Manager on his first day -- in an extraordinary new business book that will help everyone, in every kind of organization or business, deliver stunning customer service and achieve miraculous bottom-line results.
Raving Fans is written in the parable style of the bestselling The One Minute Manager and uses a brilliantly simple and charming story to teach how to define a vision, learn what a customer really wants, institute effective systems, show more and make Raving Fan Service a constant feature -- not just a passing fad.
Business is in the midst of a service crisis that has left millions of disillusioned customers in its wake. Raving Fans includes startling new tips and innovative techniques that can help anyone create a revolution in any workplace -- and turn their customers into raving, spending fans." show less

I heard about this book a while back and I felt fortunate when I was able to purchase it used. Several times I had attempted to read it but could not get into it. When forced to do a big clean up and get rid of access books I flipped through this, one last time. It was just printed text; nothing got my eye until I saw a shield at the top of a page.
So that's how chapter heading are handled in this book! Flipping through the pages trying to see what the various subdivisions of the book were I came to another shield, this one at the bottom of the page. It arrested my attention; for it read: DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT. Well obviously this had piqued my curiosity so I sat down and read this rather short book from start to finish. It's a story! I show more was expecting a textbook or a manual. But in a way, it was that too.
What really caught my attention was the fairy godmother who played golf. What I liked most about the book was the way its ideas were presented in story format so that they really stuck in my mind for me to mull over and over. The subject matter so states the subtitle is customer service. Now that's something we all deal with every day, whether its serving in the library, working in a professional office, a retail establishment or meeting the needs of friends and family.
This fast easy read will inspire and entertain you. And the key concepts that you will learn from reading this will most certainly help you in what ever capacity you serve your customers. show less

Quick read, simple message, but sometimes the simplest of messages are the hardest to see without an outside perspective. And I'm more receptive to the message at this point in my life/career than when I was first given the book (mid-1990s), so context matters.

It's a compact read and definitely worth that time - also quite entertaining. First, decide what you want. Then discover what your customers want (and deliver it, sometimes having to tell some it's not a fit). Finally, add to the experience in small increments, executing well on one step before reaching further.