Wired and Dangerous – How Your Customers Have Changed and What to Do About It

Wired and Dangerous
224 Pages
ISBN 978-1605099750

Customers today are picky, fickle, vocal, and “all about me” vain. With the reach and influence of the Internet, they are also powerful. If they receive poor or impersonal service, they talk back—with a single snarky video or damning review gone viral, they can bring down a company. To succeed in this new world, it is vital that customers are treated not as cash machines but as collaborators. Chip Bell and John Patterson analyze this service revolution and provide a tested formula for transforming today’s edgy customers into eager partners. Using real-world examples, they detail compelling methods and pragmatic tools for bringing harmony and balance to a relationship that was out of whack even before the Internet.

John R. Patterson

About John R. Patterson (Atlanta, Georgia Author)

John R. Patterson

John Patterson is President of Progressive Insights, a CBG alliance firm in Atlanta and brings 20 years of executive leadership experience in the hospitality, business services and real estate industries to the project. John holds a graduate degree in business from the Darden School at the University of Virginia.

His consulting practice specializes in helping organizations around the world effectively manage complex culture change built around customer and employee loyalty. He is the co-author of Customer Loyalty Guaranteed, Take Their Breath Away and his newest book is the best-selling Wired and Dangerous: How Your Customers Have Changed and What to do about it. His articles have appeared in such journals as Customer Relationship Management Magazine, MWorld, Electric Light and Power, Recognition Review, Customer Think, SBusiness, Customer Service Excellence, and Leadership Excellence.

Prior to founding Progressive Insights, his work experience included positions with NationsBank (now Bank of America), Homestead Village, Inc., Guest Quarters Hotels, Post Inn Hotels, and Trammell Crow Residential. His clients include Kaiser Permanente, Northeast Utilities, Freeman Companies, Pegasus Solutions, Southern California Edison, McDonald’s Corporation, Olmsted Medical, Manheim, TravelClick, Hospitality Risk Controls, Cousins Properties, Cannon Company, The College Board and the Navy Federal Financial Group, a subsidiary of the world’s largest credit union.

Chip R. Bell

About Chip R. Bell (Co-Author)

Chip R. Bell

Chip Bell has helped many Fortune 100 companies dramatically enhance their bottom lines and marketplace reputation through innovative customer-centric strategies that address the needs of today’s picky, fickle, vocal and “all about me” customers. Dr. Bell reveals the best practices from the organizations leading the customer loyalty charge, giving audiences powerful cutting-edge ideas and unique strategies they can put into practice the minute they leave his keynote. Bell’s impact on audiences is nothing short of extraordinary: over 80% of the groups who hear him bring him back. Always customer-centered, Bell customizes all his presentations to meet unique organizational needs through a background study, pre-event conference call, and phone interviews to better understand specific audience needs and challenges.

He is considered a world-renowned authority on customer loyalty and service innovation, writing over 600 articles for many business journals, magazines, and blogs. He has appeared live on CNN, CNBC, CBS, Fox Business, Bloomberg TV, ABC, NPR Radio and his work has been featured in Fortune, Businessweek, Forbes, Fast Company, Inc. Magazine, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CEO Magazine and Entrepreneur. He has authored eight national best-selling books including: The 9 1/2 Principles of innovative Service, Wired and Dangerous: How Your Customers Have Changed and What to Do about It; Managing Knock Your Socks off Service; Customers As Partners; Magnetic Service; and Take Their Breath Away: How Imaginative Service Creates Devoted Customers.

His newest book is Sprinkles: Creating Awesome Experiences Through Innovative Service and already a best seller. His books have won numerous major book awards and been endorsed by the CEO’s or president’s of such service greats as Zappos, Starbucks, Ritz-Carlton Hotels, Wolfgang Puck, Build-A-Bear Workshops, JetBlue, Marriott, Chick-fil-A, Kimpton Hotels, and Southwest Airlines. Leadership Excellence Magazine listed him among the top 30 thought leaders in North America. Global Gurus in 2014 and again in 2015 ranked him the #1 keynote speaker in the world on customer service.