Turning Rants Into Raves

Summary Written by Tracy Shea-Porter
"No matter what industry, size, or type of organization you lead, delivering an experience that inspires your customers is what every business wants."

- Turning Rants into Raves, dust jacket

The Big Idea

Never Underestimate Your Influence

"If your employees aren’t engaged, your customers won’t be either."- Rants Into Raves, page 5

How do you engage your employees?

Carol and Randi offer five principles to help you guide employees:

1. Think Like An Owner
2. Build a Relationship
3. Remove the Roadblocks
4. Walk in Your Customer’s Shoes
5. Capture Your Customer’s Heart

As the authors say, “implementing these principles will help you provide experiences that inspire your customers to rave about your company, earn their trust and loyalty, and positively impact your bottom line.”

How do you take action on the five principles?

Insight #1

See Things From Their Perspective

"Treat customers the way they want to be treated."- Rants Into Raves, page 88

While the Golden Rule may be treat others as you would want to be treated, Carol and Randi introduce the platinum rule: Treat customers the way they want to be treated.

To be like the character Rave:

  • Demonstrate sensitivity to customers’ situations (Acknowledge customers’ feelings.)
  • Be proactive to help customers (Offer to research alternative solutions.)
  • Reassure customers that you can help them (Tell a customer, “I see you are frustrated; let me help you.”)
  • Treat customers the way they want to be treated (Ask customers what they’d like us to do for them.)

The authors provide many examples of good and not-so-good customer service. Here is the thinking behind one real-life employee’s personal philosophy:

“The customer is priority one and we want to do what’s best for the customer. That’s the main goal. The customer is why I’m here, so to help them, whether it’s to do something simple on their account or to discuss their business plans, my personal philosophy is that I want to help them succeed in their business and actually accomplish what they’re trying to do.”

The bottom line: Stay focused on walking in your customers’ shoes.

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Insight #2

Capture Your Customer's Heart

"Create an emotional connection with your customer that makes him feel special and appreciated."- Rants Into Raves, page 110

As Carol and Randi say, “every interaction has two dimensions, human and business. The human dimension involves your emotions and interpersonal skills (listening, empathy, demonstrating appreciation, sympathy, acts and gestures of kindness and caring), while the business dimension involves your technical or task skills (problem-solving, asking questions, follow-up, product knowledge). We often focus more on the business dimension – completing the task at hand – yet it takes both skill sets to care for your customers and capture their hearts.”

To demonstrate small acts of kindness, try to:

  • Make customers feel special (Send handwritten cards thanking them for their business.)
  • Personalize customer experiences (Use customers’ names or remember them from a previous interaction.)
  • Exceed customer expectations (Arrange for customers to get orders before they expect them.)
  • Be genuinely interested in customers (Acknowledge special events like birthdays or awards.)

Carol and Randi also point out that “80 per cent of social media users have bailed on a purchase due to poor customer service, as have 55 per cent of consumers overall.” They call social media “the new word of mouth” and it’s true. Every day on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others, I read about my friends and colleagues’ personal experiences with various companies – good and bad! We are always sharing our stories and talking back and forth about our experiences.

How you plan to turn your Rants into Raves?

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Carol Heady

Carol Heady, the President of Learning and Performance Solutions, is a consultant, executive coach, and professional facilitator. She has facilitated hundreds of professional development training sessions and seminars over the course of 25 years. She works with individuals, small and mid-size companies across industries. Her 25+ years of business experience in diverse industries (Academia, Retail, Telecommunications, Financial Services) and background in training and development, organizational development, and performance improvement allow her to provide custom solutions for her clients. Her extensive customer service and operations experience combined with her human resource development and organizational management experience enables her to work with clients in three areas: improving customer service, increasing leadership effectiveness, and career management.

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