Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service

by Ken Blanchard, Sheldon Bowles, Harvey MacKay (Foreword)

Written in the parable style of  The One Minute Manager, Raving Fans  uses a brilliantly simple and charming story to teach how to define a vision, learn what a customer really wants, institute effective systems, and make Raving Fan Service a constant feature--not just another program of the month.
America is in the midst of a service crisis that has left a wake of disillusioned customers from coast to coast.  Raving Fans  includes startling new tips and innovative techniques that can help anyone create a revolution in any workplace--and turn their customers into raving, spending fans. "Your customers are only satisfied because their expectations are so low and because no one else is doing better. Just having satisfied customers isn't good enough anymore. If you really want a booming business, you have to create Raving Fans." This, in a nutshell, is the advice given to a new Area Manager on his first day--in an extraordinary business book that will help everyone, in every kind of organization or business, deliver stunning customer service and achieve miraculous bottom-line results.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Leadership, Management, Self Help, Buisness, Personal Development

137 pages, Hardcover

First published May 19, 1992

About the author

For business & leadership, see Kenneth H. Blanchard

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not that I expected anything different, but this "revolutionary approach to customer service" is pretty simplistic. I admit that I read it as a requirement at work. There are three main lessons in the book and the rest is filler. Undoubtedly, the author began with a basic outline. That outline was then stolen by a rouge children's author who, then completed the story around it. "I did it as a joke... but they're going out like that". The three basic lessons are solid common sense concepts. For that, I give the author credit. However, the fluff is guaranteed to encourage skiming, page skipping, and/or new personal best attempts at speed reading. I suppose there is a large segment of the corporate population that does not read regularly. Perhaps they are drawn to this book (hence the "over 1 million sold"). I find it more likely that there are two categories of consumers for this literary genre:

-Corporate trainers who believe that their employees require a great deal of imaginary and emotional fluff to learn and apply a principle.

-Corporate trainers who require a great deal of imaginary and emotional fluff to learn & apply a principle.


Either way, they buy in bulk. It is really quite brilliant.

[John Speight · Rating 1 out of 5]

Do not buy this book. It is way too long, the narration is terrible and they spend way too much time talking about golf. The main points are, figure out what you want, find out what your customer wants (try and reconcile them) and then deliver plus 1% per week. There, I just saved you $20 bucks.

[Meri · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jerry Springer is less insulting to human intelligence. More useful as toilet paper.

[Michelle Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Raving Fans as a supplemental text for a college, Principles of Customer Service course. I think it's funny that many reviewers have rated this book negatively based on its size and its simplification of the concept of good customer service.....that the ideas in this book are just common sense. And truthfully, they are just common sense....... And yet poor customer service has become a standard, that we've become accustomed to. We don't really expect anything above mediocre anymore.

Raving Fans breaks it down into three easy steps. Decide what you want. Discover what the customer wants. Deliver the vision....plus 1%. Exceeding expectations is important, but consistently meeting expectations creates credibilty. Once you've become consistent, raise the hurdle 1%. The 1% keeps you moving ahead and focused beyond your vision. To be successful you have to be better than your competition......consistently!

I think Raving Fans is not only an important read for business owners and employees that have direct contact with customers, but also for employees that do not come in contact with the outside customer. Good customer service filters down throughout the organization, not just at the front door. As you read this short, easy book, you'll begin to recognize the concepts from this book in businesses that you frequent. Home Depot, Trader Joes, Southwest Airlines....... They all "get it." And it's so easy!

This book is short, easy to read, and inexpensive....... Why wouldn't you read it?

[Joy Pouros · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh boy. I don't know why I did this to myself. I once had a boss who LOVED this book, so when I found a copy cheap I thought I'd see what the fuss is about.

This book is a mere 130 pages. Yet there is so little content that the font is large and the top and bottom margins are HUGE. This is a fast read, which is its most redeeming quality.

Yet even with the huge margins and large font, there is still so little information that it has to be given to us in this longwinded story about a fairy godmother (who is a man, since they needed to fill a gender quota - this book hasn't aged well) of customer service who loves to play golf and can read thoughts and disappear/reappear.

Spoiler: There are three points, and they are:
Decide on a vision of what you want to do.
Discover what your customers want, and how your vision can or cannot accommodate.
Deliver what you say you'll do, plus 1% more.

That's it. That's the book. If you choose to read it, you'll also read about a fictitious grocery store with valet, a department store where the boss' office is right in the middle of the store so customers can walk up and talk to him, and a few other businesses.

Perhaps the book was more revolutionary in its time. I think now businesses do understand that the bare minimum isn't enough (even though they don't all do it well).

It went fast, and now I can say I read it.

[Leah Good · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best way I can describe this book is ... It's a Wonderful Life married a customer service textbook, and they had a baby. I promise, that combination really does describe this book!

My boss at Chick-Fil-A mentioned that the company uses the "Raving Fan" approach to customer service. Curious, I Googled the term when I got home and found this book.

If you have an interest in business, want to know a piece of Chick-Fil-A's magic, and enjoy really quirky books ... this one is for you!

P.S. It's worthwhile to read other reviews. They're right when they say this is a very simple book. On the other hand it gets it's point across well, and its use of story is helpful for painting a picture of the type of business the "raving fan" model can produce.

[Bernie Sotola · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be required reading for everyone in customer service. (And everyone is in customer service.) It’s a quick and easy read. I give it 5 out of 5 “Charlie’s.”

Here are some key takeaways:

All good customer service is the result of systems.

Roll out the red carpet. Satisfied customers just aren’t good enough.

Everyone from the original purchasing agent to the end-user is a customer and your vision had better include every single one of them or you’ll never create Raving Fans.

Train your ear. First, you have to listen to the music as well as the lyrics. Often, what people really want doesn’t show up directly in what they say. They may even say one thing and mean quite another. Silence is a message and usually it’s not a good one.

When a customer complains, you know you’re hearing the truth. Listen. When a customer is a Raving Fan and is enthusiastic, listen too. But when a customer is silent or says “fine” with a smile, you have to really perk up your ears. You’ve got a problem.

Differentiate yourself from the competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.

Deliver plus one.
Deliver the vision plus one percent.

Consistency, consistency, consistency.
Consistency creates credibility.

Promise more and deliver more. Just don’t promise too much at once.

Customers allow themselves to become Raving Fans when they know they can count on you time and time again.

To be consistent you have to have systems.
Systems give you a floor. Not a ceiling.

Only an up to the minute vision can hope to create Raving Fans. The perfect vision isn’t a frozen picture of the future. Customers’ needs and wants change all the time.

Customers have needs beyond the need of the company’s product, whether it comes in a box or is a particular service. People need to feel they belong to the group. People need to feel they’re important and what they do, think and say truly matters.

[Rob McGrory · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolute drivel. Overexaggerated concepts that would NEVER work in real life. For example, a department store with daycare services, pinning carnations on everyone who comes in, a supermarket where they have consultants who plug your shopping list into the computer to help you save money and pick a healthy diet. Valet parking at that same supermarket? AND they have competitive prices?
Plus ZERO mention of treating employees better which would lead to better customer service.

[Jill Morrison · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm about half way through and so far it's as cheesy a book as that one about the stupid mice. Seriously? Put it into an email, bullet-form, and save a tree.

[William Hynes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Painful. I was forced to read this for work. It's a four-page assignment a freshman business major could have pooped out dragged out over 137 pages.
Only read it if you're getting paid to do it.

[Bailey Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

So lame only read this cause work forced me

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been reading a lot of fiction lately, so I decided to pepper in a "business" book.

Considering "Raving Fans" covers a compelling topic and is only 132 pages, I figured I'd read it.

One hour later and I'm finished and now writing this review.

It's a decent read. This book uses a narrative, third-person format to show the reader the benefits of employing the mindset of businesses with "Raving Fans." I rolled my eyes the first couple pages in when I realized the whole book was going to employ this format, but I eventually had to admit that this storytelling approach was effective. I started and finished this book in one sitting, which is more than I can say about other business books I start. I have a bookcase full of biographies, company case studies and corporate strategy books I've started, only to eventually abandon them.

But anyways, back to this book.

In this story, our nameless protagonist (really, our avatar in this world) becomes enlightened in their journey from clueless and frustrated manager, to a graduate of Raving Fan school, ready to wow customers.

We meet three different business owners who run businesses with Raving Fans. Each owner explains a different rule they employ and how by incorporating these rules into a system, their businesses flourish.

There aren't really "new" concepts presented in this book, per se. That doesn't mean you shouldn't read this book. Regardless of your position in an organization, there are nuggets of useful information here. Whether these are specific tactics, anecdotal stories to be shared or helping you take a step back and look at customer service differently. You'll get something useful.

I am going to end this review by saying I recommend this book.

[Cathy Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I no longer know whether I picked up this book and read it because I was irritated by the level of customer service I often get, or if my irritation is caused by learning from this book how ridiculously easy it is to provide good service. It's probably a cyclical thing. This I do know for sure: more than any book I've read in years I want to hand out copies of this one.... not in restaurants or grocery stores. Those folks tend to provide good service. I want to hand it out at the hospital, at the nursing home where my grandfather stayed for a time recently, at the social services agencies where other family members have been treated very badly. These are the places who take their customers for granted... who behave so abominably that one wonders how they can possibly feel any pride in their work.

Blanchard writes fun fables, but this one comes complete with a golf-loving Fairy Godmother named Charlie, who introduces our open-minded hero to a series of new colleagues who can explain the simple process of ensuring an exceptional customer experience. As with so much else in life, excellence starts with vision... a vision of the service you want to provide. It includes developing high-quality, actionable feedback from the people you serve, and committing to continuous improvement. Easy peasy!

[Dale Meyer-curley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continuing my pattern of comparing books to others, Raving Fans is "The Five People you Meet in Heaven" combined with "The Celestine Prophecy."

This is sooo a book of the 90s, where we had epiphanies about things we should already know as common sense, but weren't utilizing. That said, the advice still standsand I found myself having "A-ha" moments.

I was asked to read his for work, as part of an improvement initiative. I think this book, a quick read, is a good place to start for improvement. I don't think it's the end-all, be-all, as this just sets you on a path towards improvement, but doesn't give you the step by step instructions to do it.

[Iris Haar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aan de hand van een verhaal worden de drie geheimen over hoe een fan van je klant te maken uitgelegd. Dat voelt soms een beetje knullig, maar het is daardoor een toegankelijk boekje dat makkelijk te begrijpen is. Het is wel iets minder praktisch en concreet dan ik had gehoopt. Desondanks inspirerend om te luisteren en heeft me nieuwe dingen geleerd die ik hoop toe te passen om een betere ondernemer te worden.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This super fast read is still very relevant in today's market place. Applicable to many aspects of life outside of running a business.

Blanchard drives home his points by using plot and in depth examples of how to create "raving fans".

For the 2 hours it takes to get through this, it is well worth the time.

[Jeff Raymond · Rating 1 out of 5]

God, management books are terrible. If you need a book to help you manage...

[Amber · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to read it for work, a fairy tale story with impossible expectations of customer service.

[Bridgette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairy godmother of customer service?? I liked the meat of the story but wish it had been wrote more on an adult level .

[Amir Syed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review:
Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard

Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service by Ken Blanchard & Sheldon Bowles
1st Secret: Decide What You Want
* Remember, you are the source. Decide what you want and then create a vision of perfection centered on the moment the customer uses the product.
* “It’s store policy, to look after customers’ needs whenever possible. Mr Varley calls it Raving Fan Service and he encourages us to use our own initiative. Besides, it’s fun…I also like the feedback we get from our supervisors. The last store I worked in had mystery shoppers, but there the only feedback employees received was being dumped on by management if you didn’t do well. Here management congratulates us when we do well and helps us when we don’t. Raises and promotions go to those who deliver Raving Fan Service. It’s nice to do a good job and be recognized for it.”
* When you decide what you want you must create a vision of perfection centered on the customer. Take note that the secret doesn't say you have to be perfect. It tells you to imagine perfection centered on the customer.
* When I learned the first secret of creating Raving Fans, I decided what I wanted. then I went off by myself and in my mind’s eye I began to paint what the perfect grocery market would look like. I pictured exactly how the store would serve the customer. It took some time, but I worked it all out. I could see every detail by closing my eyes. I knew precisely what happened to customers. I could see them arrive. I could picture the valet parking and someone to tell them about a wonderful special…Every detail was so clear in my mind that I felt as if I could reach out and touch it. It was what I wanted. I was the source. That vision is always in my mind. I know exactly what perfection looks like so I know what my goal is. Once you have a real vision, what you have to do is bring down the picture from your mind and impose it over your organization and see where the bumps and warts are. That’s what you work on. SATISFIED CUSTOMERS JUST WEREN’T GOOD ENOUGH.





2nd Secret: Discover What the Customer Wants
* All you need to do is discover the customer’s vision of what they really want and then alter your vision if need be. First, unless you have your own vision, how can you understand the customers’? A customer’s vision has meaning only in the context of your vision.
* Second, when you find out what customers really want, what their vision is, it will likely focus on just one or two things. Your own vision has to fill in the gaps.
* Finally, you have to know when to ignore what the customer wants and, if necessary, tell the customer to take his vision elsewhere to be fulfilled. No one would dream of trying to design and market a sports car that was also a great off-road vehicle and at the same time served as a commercial delivery van. Yet when it comes to customer service, those who decide to really try to give good service often aim to be everything to everybody…that doesn't work. Businesses called service leaders perform within a well defined window.
* …How do you go about finding what my customers’ vision is?: We ask them and then listen closely both to what they say and to what they don’t say.
* First, define who your customers are. Remember: everyone touched by the product is a customer. Everyone from the original purchasing agent to the end user is a customer and your vision had better include every single one of them or you’ll never create Raving Fans.
* Train your ear. Listen to the feedback of your customers. Learn that the word “fine” and silence are toxic. Learn that silence is a message and usually it’s not a good one.” Customers assume on one really wants to know what they think. When a customer complains, you know you’re hearing the truth. Listen to him. When a customer is a Raving Fan and is enthusiastic, listen to him too. But when a customer is silent and says ‘Fine’ with a smile, you have to really perk up your ears. You’ve got a problem. It nothing else, that customer isn't a Raving Fan.
* Ask sincere questions. Take the time to get a conversation going and customers will sense you’re serious and will respond.
* Most customers have a focus. You have to find that focus and then mine it for information. As you uncover the customer’s vision one bit at a time, it’s easy to either work it into your own vision or reject it.
* We have a Raving Fan Index we measure monthly for every department and every person working here. We talk to customers and use internal benchmarks like re-work or on-time delivery scores to put the index together. Everyone who works here knows who their customer is. The Raving Fan Index is tied directly to their own customer base and that counts heavily toward both raises and promotions. If you don’t look after your people, they won’t look after your customers. And when they do, if you say thank you and reward them, they’ll do it again and again.
* Over the door was a sign that proclaimed: “Welcome to the head office of the world’s greatest service stations.” *Consider having this on the front door of the actual branch!

















3rd Secret: Deliver Plus One
* Deliver the Vision Plus One Percent
* The secret says two things. First, it tells you to deliver. Not sometimes, not most times, but ALL THE TIME. No exceptions contemplated or allowed. Second, it talks about “plus one percent”.
* Consistency, consistency, consistency. Consistency is critical. Consistency creates credibility. Consistency is key to delivering Raving Fan Service.
* To start with, limit the number of areas where you want to make a difference. First, it allows you to be consistent. Second, you’ll be much further ahead doing a bang up job on one thing rather than introducing a whole string of customer service goals all at once. You’ll never bring it off. It just can’t be done that way. You can always build towards the total vision once you’re successful with one or two things, but it’s difficult, if not impossible, to try to change too much at once. What you have to do is promise more and deliver more. Just don’t promise too much at once.
* Customer’s allow themselves to be seduced into becoming Raving Fans only when they know they can count on you time and time again. Exceeding expectations is important but it’s even more important to consistently meet expectations. Meet first, exceed second. The worst thing you can do is meet expectations one time, fall short another, and exceed every now and then.
* At the core of every great customer service organization is a package of systems and training program to inculcate those systems into the soul of that company. Systems are what allows you to guarantee delivery, not smiles and ‘have a great day’. I also learned that all the systems in the world aren’t worth a pinch of salt if everyone isn’t trained to follow them.
* For example, our research shows friendly people talk about topics not directly connected with the business transaction at hand and so we train team members to do just that. Sometimes customers are in a big hurry and would feel any extra talk was delaying them. Our team members have to judge that.
* Systems allow you to deliver a minimum standard of performance consistently. That’s important because if you fall short of what you’ve said you’ll do, YOU CHEATED THE CUSTOMER.
* The biggest problem I have in delivering my vision is knowing what to do next. Either I try to do too much at once and get frustrated or I sit immobilized because of the size of the job ahead. The rule of one percent reminds me that all I have to do is to improve by one percent. That is 52 percent improvement yearly.
* The Rule of One Percent tells you how to move ahead and then go beyond the vision. It also lets you constantly monitor the customers’ needs and alter your direction when they alter theirs. Listening to customers is powerful, responding to what customers say is dynamite!

Summary

* The three secrets all fit together. He understood the importance of having a vision of his own to start with. He saw the necessity of then talking to customers. For the first time he felt he knew what talking to customers really meant and how to listen, even to silences. He also knew when to implement what customers wanted, and when to ignore customer’s wants. Best of all, he knew how to take this vision and turn it into an action plan. Consistency alongside ongoing improvements plus the ability to alter course more quickly were keys to creating Raving Fans. Promise more only up to the point you can deliver consistently and then deliver more using The Rule of One Percent
* Close your eyes and spend a few minutes visualizing our customers using our products

Action Steps:

1. Implement a post closing survey, this will allow you to listen to your customer’s needs
2. Implement the scripting provided by the CORE during the Tuesday Update calls
3. Have everyone read this book, make it part of the Welcome Gift package
4. Always keep in mind of The One Percent Rule (implement one small item at a time)
5. Implement semi-annual performance reviews for all employees. Feedback is critical
6. Implement job descriptions and checklists
7. Ongoing employee training

[Muath Aziz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raving Fans: Satisfied customers just aren’t good enough.

——-

This book teaches us that the company needs the customers and not the other way around like many people think. It teaches us to customers are rational and aware and they know what they want (sometimes they want something that’s very specific). We should not treat them like passives as Marketing teaches in college.

Customer when they say that the service is ok, it means that it’s bad, it’s just that they lowered their expectations so low with their experiences with other companies that a bad service is ok. What you need, is raving fans. You need to imagine your customer needs, customer journey end to end, and serve him all the way. It’s nice if a supermarket have a valet parking and also offer dietary consultations based on your selected items and can offer better options if you asked for it.

The book teaches that first, you need to know what’s your vision, what’s your product and service you’re offering. Then you must listen to the customers, see what they need, but only in the context of your vision. For example you should not offer DVD rental service even if some customers ask for it, it’s a stretch from your vision.

This leads to the third point, you must be consistent is delivering your service, so only improve a step at a time, and only move to the next step after you’ve perfected the last one. With that, you’re improving your service 1% each time, but it is accumulating, then, you’re promising your customer more that expectation and you’re solidly delivering on that expectation.

——-

The book is delivering the lesson as a story between a newly assigned area manager and his appearing-out-of-no-where-male-fairy-godmother. Funny at times, cringy at others. Lol.

It is a light read over all, and it is delivering the message very very clearly. Prose is 10 out of 10. Well done.

——-

Overall, I can say that the book is introducing us to the concept of being customer-oriented rather than business-oriented. It doesn’t speak in details about how to make your product profitable, how to research the market and customers, how to segment, how to come up with the customer persona, how to map the customer journey, how to digitalize the service, how to create the UX/UI of the service provided within the app (the book was written in the 90s, no smart phones yet lol), how to survey your customers, etc etc.

On the other hand, the book can be a reminder for us in modern day for sticking to our vision. Companies nowadays are over-stretching their vision to meet customer satisfaction. That is wrong. The customer is not first, vision is. Also the message for having raving fans instead of satisfied fans is powerful. Also the message for improving little by little, or to put it on another way, focusing on a specific area and perfecting it before moving to the next one, is what makes you successful more than competition and to exceed customers expectations.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kenneth H. Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles write a parable about customer service, using a fictional area manager's meeting with a golf-playing fairy godmother of customer service named "Charlie". The audiobook is read by Rick Adamson, Kate Borges, and John Mollard, and it includes music as well as ambient noise during different scenes. The three secrets of customer service include: create your vision customer-centered; ask your customers what they want, to match their real expectations with your vision; and to always exceed expectations by 1% to maintain sustainable service growth. Readers with experience in customer service might not find much new information, while readers seeking an introductory overview of customer service practice might be satisfied.

[Reka Beezy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read this book for work. It was extremely simplistic and didn’t really give much insight on how to execute the things suggested. Instead of talking about golf, I think they should live gone into detail on the main character’s business, how it work before and then how it worked after meeting the Fairy Godmother. I’m pretty sure this book was just something to put out so the author could keep getting revenue under his brand. Nothing revolutionary was truly here, but it did keep it simple. I guess simple is revolutionary with the way people overcomplicate things. I wouldn’t read this again.

[Dean Harrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, fable-styled telling of the importance of customer service. The tale is a bit idealistic, if not mystical and perhaps unrealistic but it unlocks the vision of what true customer service needs to look like, where it needs to begin and what it needs to accomplish. A real perception changer.

I'd recommend it to recent college grads heading into the job interview process. It would give them a real leg-up on assessing potential employers and provide them with meaningful talking-points of their own for those interviews.

[Ramona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read. Good vision, advice and direction.

[Paige Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was alright. Fair points made that are often overlooked. I had to read this for work.

[Amanda Ahlman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick read and a simple one. Didn’t think it lived up to the “business world” hype though. Overall good points.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read this for work. I could do without the juvenile fairytale approach to an adult audience.

[Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read for work. Common sense approach to customer service in a seriously dated 90’s “parable”. Blah blah blah.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about customer service!