Superior customer value

Companies that put customers at the center of their operations tend to have a clearer sense of purpose, and they usually deliver stronger results in the market. Yet the pressures of running intricate, fast-moving businesses can pull managers away from what customers actually want, so the service people receive often falls short of what they were promised.

Art Weinstein, who has spent over fifteen years working in this field, examines the strongest firms in the market and explains what it takes to build exceptional value for customers. The book covers how to design, put into practice, and assess a customer value strategy in service, technology, and information-driven organizations. Its central concern is marketing planning, with a focus on managing relationships to keep customers satisfied.

Written as a textbook for MBA programs, the book is clear and practical, aimed at managers at every level of experience who want to improve marketing operations and build customer-focused organizations. It introduces working tools, including the customer value funnel, customer value assessment, service-quality-image-price (SQIP) analysis, and CRM models. Each chapter closes with a customer value insight checklist, action items, and supporting figures and tables.

This third edition updates the material for current business conditions. It addresses how to drive a market and identify new ventures, the growing importance of online channels, and newer models and metrics for customer loyalty and retention.