Mastering Customer Value Management: The Art and Science of Creating Competitive Advantage

Although the field is still in its infancy, there is an emerging art and science of customer value management that is proving its worth. Firms of all sizes that capture and use customer data with the same kind of discipline, passion and understanding they give to operational and financial data are learning that this business practice is well worth the time and money invested.

Mastering Customer Value Management presents the basic concepts of customer value management and the practical tools that have been developed to implement them in business. The book explores the art and science of:

- correlating customer value and business results
- capturing actionable competitive information
- using customer data to determine priorities and drive improvements
- creating a customer focused culture.

Authored by a practitioner with proven successes, the book is a practical guide designed to help readers:

- understand the process and business impact of customer value management
- learn about the tools needed to implement a customer value business approach
- overcome resistance to change
- implement ten critical steps to customer value management
- institute strategies to make the program work.

Written in a friendly and engaging style, Mastering Customer Value Management provides a first-person account of the author’s experiences with a variety of global firms. The book is enriched by contributions from executives, change agents, technical experts and fellow consultants. Examples of customer value management efforts underway are documented throughout the book. Six case studies provide insight and details of successfully implemented customer value management programs.

Based on 17 years of actual global consulting with firms from multiple industry sectors in Asia Pacific, Europe, North America and South America, the book offers pragmatic, actionable strategies based on real-life experiences. It walks the reader through the process of translating good intentions and slogans into actions that can have dramatic impact on a firm’s performance.

Rather than offering a "this is how you must do it" approach, Mastering Customer Value Management provides a template, then illustrates how different firms have customized the approach to their own context and made it work for them.

Ray Kordupleski is president of CVM, Inc. and has 17 years experience in helping companies understand and implement customer value management programs. He was one of the pioneers in determining the value of customer value management and how it can dramatically improve a company’s performance.

Over the years, Ray’s insights, unique consulting style and hands-on approach have helped hundreds of companies around the world and in many industries boost sustainable competitive advantages and increase performance and profitability.

Prior to forming CVM, Inc. in 1998 Ray had over 29 years experience in the telecommunications industry, including customer-related positions with Illinois Bell, New Jersey Bell, Bell Atlantic, and AT&T. At AT&T he was the customer satisfaction director for the corporation, where the use of customer value management had its genesis in the early 80s and resulted in remarkable results prior to the breakup of AT&T.

Ray’s work in quality, customer satisfaction and customer value management is well recognized. He has consulted globally with firms in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, England, Finland, France, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United States. His consulting, speaking and seminar activities have spanned a variety of industries: energy, telecommunications, financial services, entertainment, insurance, pharmaceuticals, high tech manufacturing, chemical, and consumer goods.

Ray has published articles in major journals, including "Why Improving Quality Doesn’t Improve Quality" California Management Review, "Building and Deploying Profitable Growth Strategies Based on the Waterfall of Customer Value Added" European Management Journal, and "Marketing and Total Quality Management" Oxford University Press.

As a member of the American Marketing Association, Ray was the chairperson for the Second and Tenth Congresses on Customer Satisfaction and has regularly attended its annual conferences. He is a member of the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Service Research, sponsored by the Robert H. Smith School of business, University of Maryland.