Jeanne Bliss - I Love You More Than My Dog: Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Chapter 1 - Your Decisions Reveal WHO YOU ARE and WHAT YOU VALUE

Chapter 3 - Decide with CLARITY of PURPOSE

Chapter 4 - Decide to BE REAL

Chapter 5 - Decide to BE THERE

Chapter 6 - Decide to SAY SORRY

Chapter 7 - The Decision Is YOURS

The Final Word TONY HSIEH, CEO, Zappos.com

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First published in 2009 by Portfolio, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Copyright Jeanne Bliss, 2009

All rights reserved

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA

Bliss, Jeanne.

I love you more than my dog : five decisions that drive extreme customer loyalty in good times and bad / Jeanne Bliss.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

eISBN : 978-1-101-14879-2

1. Customer loyalty. 2. Customer relationsManagement. I. Title.

HF5415.525.B57 2009

658.8343-dc22 2009017775

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This ones for you, Dad.

I miss you.

Foreword

Frankly, when I read Jeannes draft of ILove YouMore Than My Dog the first time, I was somewhat jealous that she had put her thoughts on paper before Id had a chance to do so. With very few exceptions, almost every thought, every lesson, and every summary could have been about the beloved company for which I carried the customer service torch for close to 37 years (I retired in July 2008).

The second time I read it, I thought, Geez, Louise, this woman shares my long-held belief that intangibles are more important than tangibles, and she instinctively and intuitively gets it that Golden Rule behavior must be a way of life for organizations to be successfulas opposed to the

program of the week to win over customers.

I wholeheartedly subscribe to Jeannes conclusions about what it takes to earn extraordinary customer loyalty; and through the five decisions that she has selected and the real-life stories she tel s about real-life companies, she wil convince the skeptics that even they have reason for reading this book. I also share the thought that your col ective decisions tel the story of who you are, albeit a person, a business, or an organization; and that to earn the respect (and eventual y love) of your customers, you first have to respect those customers. That is why Golden Rule behavior is embraced by most of the winning companies/organizations Jeanne has covered in her easy-to-read and enjoyable book.

In al honesty, I havent found myself nodding my head in agreement as often to the delightful y simple (but powerful) thoughts expressed in a book since I read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand back in 1962! I believe in this book! I believe that Jeanne has captured the spirit, dedication, and passion for causes to which the companies she has highlighted are so total y committed, and I would enjoy the opportunity to meet every person she has told us about in this fun book. We would have a great campfire session tel ing marvelous exemplary customer service stories and I bet we would laugh and cry over many of them. I found Jeanne to be a kindred spirit and Im sure I would feel the same way about most of the people she profiles in this book.

If you are looking for a dry, drab col ege textbook, or a book where you have to look up every other word in the dictionary to understand what is being said, I Love You More Than My Dog is not for you. If you are dedicated to a cause that you feel could make the world or a town or an organization or even yourself a better place/person, and you just want some commonsense, practical approaches as to what causes people to believe in you and to want to tel your story, then I Love You More Than My Dog is a MUST READ. Id be wil ing to bet that you wil find yourself nodding over and over in agreement with the conclusions that Jeanne draws, and I double bet that you wil read the book more than once and share it with many of your friends. Enjoy!

Col een Barrett

President Emeritus, Southwest Airlines

February 9, 2009

This book is about earning the right to have customers tell your story. When you make decisions that respect and honor customers, you wil earn their admiration; eventual y even love. Then customers wil begin to grow your business for you.

The title of this book, I Love You More Than My Dog, is a reminder that people are bound by emotion to the things they love. They are bound by emotion to behaviors they love. What binds dog lovers to their pets is the constant devotion they receive from them: a warm welcome, caring nature, and selfless actions. Al character traits we value in people, especially when we come across them in business.

When customers love you, theyl not only turn to you when a particular product or service is needed, theyl turn to you first, regardless ofthecompetition.Theywil tel yourstory,forminganarmyofcheer leaders and publicists urging friends, neighbors, col eagues, even strangers to experience your company. The accolade I love you more than my dog is a high aspiration. What customers say about the companies they love gets pretty close to that sentiment. The endpapers of this book are fil ed with comments made by customers proclaiming their love for companies and the people in them. At Yelp, Facebook, Epinions, Twitter, chat rooms, and hundreds of other Web sites every day, people are not bashful to tel stories about how they feel when they are treated wel . Customers who love you wont be able to stop raving about you. But you have to earn the right to their story first.