My First (and possibly my last) Book Review – Hooked on Customers by Bob Thompson

As an author, it seems I am always on deadline with my own manuscripts.  This leaves me little more than the opportunity to write business related correspondence and a weekly blog.

Through the years, friends have asked me to provide reviews of their books and I have always apologetically declined.  If I feel strongly about a colleague’s book, I am usually able to cobble out a few sentence endorsement blurb that becomes part of the cover content and marketing campaign.

All that was said as a context piece for a review of Bob Thompson’s book Hooked on Customers – The Five Habits of Legendary Customer-Centric Companies.  To make this all the more strange, I realized I probably haven’t actually done a book review since high school and I am not even sure if I read that book.  I am sure that I didn’t find the joy in my high school reading and writing project that I did producing this in support of Bob’s book.

First a word about Bob and then a quick effort to pique your interest in his book.  I have known Bob for more years than either of us would want to count.  He first contacted me in the early days of his development of a blog site called Customerthink.com.  Not only have I had my blogs republished there through the years but I have watched him build a community of the world’s thought leaders.  To do this, he has invested tireless effort on the blog and is one of the most knowledgeable people when it comes to “all things customer.”

In every dealing with Bob, he has demonstrated the very behaviors he offers up in Hooked on Customers, namely the consistent effort to:

Listen

Think

Empower

Create, and

Delight

While straightforward and crisp in their presentation in the book, Bob unpacks each habit thoughtfully and often with an interesting twist.  A clear example of his engaging analysis can be found in his assessment of why the architect behind the customer experience at Apple (Ron Johnson) failed to deliver an engaging experience at JCPenney or how Southwest Airlines made sure that their LEAN (process improvement program) was not MEAN when it came to customers.

I am sure my high school teacher would not have approved of this review (too personal, not in 5 paragraph expository writing format) but I know you will approve of “Hooked on Customers.”

Thanks, Bob, for your passion for customer experience and for giving us all a straightforward, engaging, though-provoking and actionable read!