The Effortless Experience
MATTHEW DIXON is the executive director of CEB's Sales & Service Practice. He is a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review, and his previous book, The Challenger Sale, was a Wall Street Journal bestseller that was hailed as "the most important advance in selling in many years" (Neil Rackham) and "the beginning of a wave that will take over many selling organizations in the next decade" (Business Insider).
NICK TOMAN is a frequent writer to Harvard Business Review and the senior director of research for CEB's Sales & Service Practice.
RICK DELISI is a well-known public speaker and facilitator, as well as the senior director of consulting services for CEB's Sales & Service Practice.
CEB is the most prominent member-based advisory firm. CEB provides senior leaders and their teams with insight and actionable solutions to transform operations by combining the best practices of thousands of member organizations with its advanced research methodology and human capital analytics.
Everyone knows that the ideal approach to build client loyalty is to provide service that is so good, so out of the ordinary, that it surprises and delights. But what if everyone is mistaken?
Matthew Dixon and his colleagues at CEB debunked numerous long-held sales fallacies in their famous bestseller The Challenger Sale. With a new book that throws conventional thinking on its head, they've turned their research and analysis to a new crucial business subject: customer loyalty.
The notion that businesses must delight customers by exceeding service standards is so entrenched that few managers even question it. They commit incalculable time, energy, and resources to dazzling others and inspiring unwavering allegiance. Despite this, CEB's thorough study over five years and tens of thousands of responses demonstrates that the "dazzle factor" is vastly overrated—it simply does not predict repeat sales, share of wallet, or favorable word of mouth. The truth:
"Loyalty is driven by how well a company delivers on its basic promises and solves day-to-day problems, not on how spectacular its service experience might be. Most customers don’t want to be “wowed”; they want an effortless experience. And they are far more likely to punish you for bad service than to reward you for good service."
This makes a lot of sense if you put on your customer hat instead of your manager or marketer hat. What do you truly want from your cable company: a free month of HBO when it goes down or a quick, easy connection restoration? Do you desire free cookies and a friendly grin from your bank, or maybe a personal relationship with your teller? Or is it just a simple in-and-out transaction with an easy option to seek a refund if it overcharges on fees?
The Effortless Experience takes readers on an enthralling trip deep within the consumer experience, revealing what truly makes customers loyal—and disloyal. The authors outline the four main pillars of a low-effort customer experience, including strong statistics, stunning insights, and profiles of firms who are already using the concepts uncovered by CEB's study with remarkable success. They also contain a plethora of tools and templates that you can use right now to enhance service, cut expenses, minimize customer attrition, and eventually produce the illusive loyalty that the "dazzle factor" fails to achieve.
The prizes are there for the taking, and the path to obtaining them is now well-defined.
Author: Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman and Rick DeLisi
Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/Effortless-Experience-Conquering-Battleground-Customer/dp/1591845815/
Ratings: 4.6 out of 5 stars (from 498 reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #43,805 in Books
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