Author Description

"This book is about creating a corporate culture that is so focused on taking care of and tending to employees and customers that the culture itself creates evangelists. Evangelists are special people who go out of their way to tell the world just how great you and your company are. They are exactly the kind of advocates that you want your organization's culture to create. That's the end result of The Cult of the Customer. There are many companies who have managed to build a culture that has reached this level-a culture rooted in a concept called amazement. In this book, I'll tell you their stories, show you exactly how they made The Cult of the Customer happen, and show you how you can make it happen, too. You'll start by determining what cult you're in now and then by figuring out what cult you want to be in. Bear this in mind as you make your way through this book: a cult is nothing more or less than a system of shared belief, interest, or experience-in other words, a group of people with a shared agreement about what they will be cultivating together. When it comes to business, I'm in a cult, and I hope you are, too: The Cult of the Customer! Years ago, I identified five phases that customers go through from the time they first start doing business with you until they become loyal to you and your company. That much was set, even though the names I gave those phases changed over time. Here is the interesting part-the part that matters to you and me as business people. Employees of your company go through identical phases. So for a company to create an amazing experience-one that creates not just loyal customers but company evangelists-the employees of that company must move through these phases before the customers do. These phases are the various cults that your company may be in. You'll learn about all these phases in this book"--