When Customers Talk … Turn What They Tell You into Sales

Citation

Reinecke Flynn, L. (2006), "When Customers Talk … Turn What They Tell You into Sales", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 229-229. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760610674365

T. Scott Gross has collected anecdotes through his years of consulting and speaking. He has used these, combined with the experience and intelligence generated by the Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey (CIA), to create a book that is full of good advice for the service practitioner. According to the author, the secret of success in services is to know what the trends are in customer preferences and needs before they are old news and to treat customers' as you would like to be treated yourself. The CIA provides the early warning with an online panel. Results are timely and have given clients the edge in responding to changes. Besides speed the CIA allows for open‐ended responses. These consumer comments are very revealing as to how customers are seeing and using retailers and other service businesses.

As interesting as the tables of numbers in this book are, and they are very interesting, the real message of the book is that customers want to be treated like people. In other words, “Do unto others … ” should be followed not just in day‐to‐day life but also in the retail setting. In story after story Gross gives examples of how, when customers are treated with decency and respect, they respond with loyalty and sales.

The simplest form of respect is listening to customers and responding to them personally. We have all had the experience of dismay at receiving a form letter in response to some communication we attempted with a company. If a great coupon accompanies that form letter we feel better, but if the response we get is personal and obviously took the time and effort of a real person we feel great! We feel respected and heard. This kind of respect is uncommon in today's marketplace.

T. Scott Gross's point is that listening to consumers in the form of large panel research, well designed to actually capture what is going on in the hearts and minds of consumers, listening in the old fashioned way of comment cards and 1‐800 numbers, and simply in face to face encounters is a forgotten art. He stresses that little encounters, one person at a time, add up to a cadre of loyal and loving customers and that little changes in big numbers are not to be ignored.

Mr Gross has his finger on the pulse of the customer and he has found that they are alive and like to be treated like real people. He has found that this way of doing business leads to success.

Businesspeople will gain from reading this book. There are many practical suggestions for all sizes of service businesses. Teachers of marketing will like this book as it gives many examples that students can relate to. The book is clearly written and a fast read. Thanks to T. Scott Gross for providing practical help to the customer service community and a pep talk to us all.

Leisa Reinecke FlynnFlorida State University, Florida, California, USA