How can a company maintain its profitability in today's competitive environment? Based on extensive research at a wide variety of companies (including Boeing, Federal Express, Jaguar, Maytag, Northwestern Mutual Life, Xerox and Swissair) the authors show that the best way a company can meet competition in the marketplace is by providing products and services which increase customer satisfaction above and beyond the levels given by competitors. In the long term, the company that keeps its customers happy obtains a crucial advantage: loyal customers usually willing to pay a premium for the firm's products. And having customers less likely to switch brands allows the company more time to adapt to changing market conditions. Management can increase profits by charging a little more for a better product (rather than just by reducing costs), obtain more repeat business, and reduce marketing and sales expenses.

The Customer is Key: Gaining an Unbeatable Advantage Through Customer Satisfaction

Business & Money

Lele, Milind M.

Management & Leadership

wiley

The Customer is Key: Gaining an Unbeatable Advantage Through Customer Satisfaction (Wiley Management Series on Problem Solving, Decision Making and Strategic Thinking)

“Competition is the bane of the free enterprise system.” —Anonymous business mogul What people on the front lines—making, marketing, and selling products and services—really want is to be alone in the marketplace, to have a space that they own for a long enough period of time so they can make some real money. In this short, powerful book, Milind Lele shows you how. Conventional wisdom attributes winning to having the best products at the lowest prices, a great brand, superior management, and the lowest overhead. All are obviously of great importance, but in actuality anyone can achieve them. Dr. Lele shows that winning comes from focusing on these monopoly rules: • What patch of open market space does this business own—or could it own? • Is the space really open or is it wishful thinking? • Are there enough customers whose needs are not being met and are they willing to spend money to have those needs met? • How long will this space remain open and why? • What do you have to do to capture it and wall it off? • When will the party end and what do we do next? For example, for many coffee lovers there is no one but Starbucks. The moment people found out what coffee could, and should, taste like it was as if a giant lightbulb went off inside their heads—and Starbucks had a monopoly. The best monopoly opportunities are situational, often soft and intangible. They’re segments, not the mass market, and often in the customer’s mind. For the customer there is no one but you, since what you provide can’t be easily copied, duplicated, or ripped off. Monopoly Rules couldn’t come at a better time, as an almost perfect storm seems to be hitting every business. Customers are changing and the homogenous mass market has gone the way of the nickel soda. Now the game is winning market segments. In this world, Monopoly Rules provides a new way to think and take action and stay ahead of the game. Also available as an eBook

Monopoly Rules: How to Find, Capture, and Control the Most Lucrative Markets in Any Business

Crown Business

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