Customer Chemistry: How to Keep the Customers You Want--And Say Good-Bye to the Ones You Don't

I can always tell how useful and informative I consider a book by how much page dog-earing, highlighting and underliningI've done. This book looks like it has been through a major battle. So many things impressed me. On page 111, for example, they give a 'top of mind' marketing success story for a mortgage lender. This is an industry that loses two-thirds to three-quarters of its borrowers when they refinance or take out a new mortgage. Creating programmatic value for borrowers should be at the top of their agenda; but the industry is tough to budge from their old, reactive forms of relationship. They tend to see themselves solely as bankers, order-takers. Susan and Mary offer an example of a concrete, creative way to both have customer involvement and generate valuable customer insight. On page 157, they do a succinct, focused job of presenting Customer Life Cycle as a concept. Applying life-cycle to customer relationships is a platform in everything I write about and do for my clients, so I was really glad to see it in their book. I'm particularly interested in how they recommend generating customer data, as well as storing and applying it. While, based on my background, I have pretty strong views on market research as a tactical and strategic tool(which differs somewhat from their opinions and experiences), I appreciate their methods for contacting and debriefing customers in Chapters 4 and 8. Bottom line: Customer Chemistry is crisp, professional and easy to read

Mary and Susan really have found the winning formula for maximizing business relationships. The book is loaded with valuable advice and techniques all designed to reach, keep and expand your relationships with your best customers. The book even has actual forms and plans that Mary uses in her businesses -- which obviously work. I found the ratings systems to be particularily useful. Keep this book close to your desk, you'll be referring to it often. I made many notations as I read it.