The Saturn Difference: Creating Customer Loyalty in Your Company - Hardcover

Lenz, Vicki

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471314498 ISBN 13: 9780471314493

Publisher: Wiley, 1999

Many people across the country claim they have been "Saturnized," thanks to the company's renowned style of conducting business that keeps their customers happy and coming back to purchase again and again. Marketing expert Vicki Lenz explores how Saturn built its exceptional customer service reputation, using their successful methods as a role model to demonstrate how any company can create positive relationships with their customers, fulfill their needs, and turn one-time buyers into repeat-purchasing, loyal clients. Lenz, a satisfied Saturn customer, focuses on why Saturn buyers are so loyal, letting the reader hear directly from the customers themselves and extrapolating lessons from their feedback that are useful in any industry. She covers the steps companies can take to gain customer loyalty, including how to create interest, how to help customers feel welcome, how to solve problems, and how to communicate after the sale. In the spirit of The Nordstrom Way, Lenz offers managers, owners, and entrepreneurs alike sound advice that will show them how to stay ahead in the all-important race to catch, and keep, the customer.

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From the Back Cover:

Have you been Saturnized? Many people can make that claim thanks to the company's renowned style of conducting business, which keeps their customers enthusiastic and coming back to purchase again and again. In an industry where the average customer loyalty rate hovers around 44 percent, Saturn excels at close to 60 percent-a tremendous accomplishment for a company to achieve in only eight years. What really is the Saturn difference? Why do their customers find the experience of doing business with them to be truly special? And-most important of all-how can your business follow in Saturn's footsteps?

Marketing expert Vicki Lenz answers these questions as she explores how Saturn built its exceptional customer service reputation, using Saturn's successful methods to demonstrate how any company can create positive relationships with customers and turn one-time buyers into repeat-purchasing, loyal clients. You'll hear from dozens of enthusiastic Saturn customers explaining why they love dealing with Saturn and why they will return to buy again. Lenz explains in detail what the Saturn Corporation has done to foster such devotion, and how you can adapt their methods to your business.

Each chapter of this book covers a different step that companies can take to gain customer loyalty, such as how to create interest, how to help customers feel welcome, and how to solve problems. Lenz also provides a complete breakdown of the sales process-before, during, and after the sale-to demonstrate how a customer's experience should be, for any product or service, from any size or type of business. You'll learn how Saturn does it, what customers think about it, and how you can make the changes necessary to become more customer-focused. Lenz will show you how to build your company's reputation through quality and value, creating a buzz and attracting people to your business and your product.

Among the many other strategies and tips you'll learn:
* The ten reasons to create customer loyalty
* The five core values that represent the Saturn style of business
* Unique ways to "reach out and touch" your customers
* "What You Can Do" ideas for immediate action

Whether you're a salesperson, manager, small business owner, or a CEO, it's up to you to create the excitement and environment that will inspire customer loyalty. The lessons of The Saturn Difference, well and sincerely learned, will give you the tools you need to keep your customers coming back-and also spreading the good word.

Your company may meet customers' expectations on the initial buy, but how can you be certain they will return to buy again? The Saturn Corporation knows that the key is to think of customers in terms of relationships, not transactions. In this insightful book, Vicki Lenz will show you how Saturn earned its outstanding record of customer loyalty, and how your business can do the same. Discover how creating a customer-loyalty atmosphere within your company can help you hire the right employees, attract long-term business, increase your profit margins, and deliver a serious blow to your competition.

"Finally, the amazing story of Saturn! Vicki Lenz provides a practical, up-close view of Saturn's unique and radical approach to creating loyal customers. The lessons apply to all of us."-Tom Peters

"Vicki Lenz has fashioned an eloquent, user-friendly road map for creating and maintaining customer loyalty. Saturn is the Nordstrom of the car business."-Robert Spector, coauthor The Nordstrom Way

"Good reading! It's great to actually read one of our guest's thoughts in black and white. This book is like a report card you can't wait to show your parents."-Steven Salemi, Vice President General Manager, Saturn of Louisville

About the Author:

Vicki Lenz spent more than twenty years in sales and marketing, and in 1993 she started her own marketing, consulting, and training business. Her clients include a mix of small and large businesses and organizations, from retail companies to industrial and professional firms. She speaks to business and professional audiences. Vicki lives in Louisville, Kentucky. For more information, visit her Web site at www.vickilenz.com. She is a loyal Saturn customer.

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