Author: Jim Champy
Publisher: FT Press
ISBN: 978-0-13-136188-1

Click Here To Purchase Inspire!: Why Customers Come Back

Jim Champy, author of Inspire, is the chairman and head of business strategies for Perot Systems. He had written numerous bestsellers (Outsmart!, X-Engineering The Corporation, Reengineering Management, and the Arc of Ambition). In Inspire he interviewed several business leaders from various industries to help translate the theories he writes about into real life scenarios that can help organizations learn how to make the most out of our bad economic times. (2009, insert)

Inspire opens up with taking your organization “from tired to inspired”.  (2009, p.6) Here Champy writes about how your marketing efforts should define your target audience by considering what you have in common with your customer. (p.10) If you can see yourself as the customer you can create a plan to sell your goods and services to them/you with greater ease. Champy says that [paraphrase] the customer drives the company image. Highlights of this chapter are convenience, affordability, authenticity, value, and purpose.

Some organizations have made their mark by championing a specific cause, i.e. organic products without pesticides. Using a cause to create or supplement your image is a good thing for some products or services because they can be inspirational. Causes are emotional and make your customer feel good about using your product or service. (2009, p.30) Highlights from this chapter hinge on reinforcement, experience, advocate, appeal, and truth.

Can convenience save you money? Champy says yes! Do not overstock your product or service, but have enough in the right locations to service your customers conveniently is the key. (2009, p.42) Convenience translates into every part of your business from how one selects the product or service down to where they go to get it. Simplicity in every facet coupled with good service can help streamline that process and keep your customers coming back for more.

The healthcare and pharmaceutical industry can provide consumers with good service, quality care, and affordable prices without sacrificing the bottom line. (2009, p.59) How can this be achieved? Insurers can cut through the layers of red tape by partnering with the federal government, bundling or layering services/benefits that provide additional discounts to the customer, going paperless to streamline processes and procedures, and placing more emphasis on prevention and wellness instead of after the fact treatments.

Market differentiation is important to getting a leg up on the competition. How can you define your organization better? Your organization can stand out from its competition by being straightforward, uncomplicated, and customer focused. (2009, p.84-5) Good service brings customers back. Select a message that resonates with your target audience, keep your promises, constantly work on improvement, and balance idealism with reality. (pgs.103-6)

Businesses can build on and leverage their past experience. They can even emerge ahead of the pack if they were the underdog. (2009, pgs.147-50)How? Coming from the back of the pack means concentrating on what separates you from your competition without losing your authenticity or core organizational values. Authenticity, customer focus, and adherence to one set of organizational values is what will bring your customers back time and again. It also tends to be a common theme throughout this book and from organization to organization.  

Mr. Champy did a lot of leg work to put this book together and it does inspire one to go beyond what they had previously been doing. It inspires organizations to take a chance on doing something vastly different without compromising their company vision/image, and without sacrificing core values or customer satisfaction. In today’s global economy where there is more competition than ever before there are things that businesses can do to keep their customers coming back. Jim Champy shows them the way in Inspire!