Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service

Blanchard considers himself to be a spiritual guy. (The title he uses at his company is Chief Spiritual Officer.) As a result, Raving Fans, like other Blanchard-branded books, employs a format that is self-consciously based on the Biblical parable. Perhaps he considers this to be an homage but it just comes across as pretentious.

If a reader was genuinely undecided on the value of customer service, then this book might be worthwhile. But for the vast majority of readers who understand that customer service is important and want to know how to get better at it, Raving Fans isn't going to provide any practical guidance.


Great for communicating customer service ideals to employees   June 13, 1998
 17 out of 17 found this review helpful

I'm a dentist, and even though people think I have patients, they are also customers. I and my staff have to deliver exceptional service if I expect them to come back and refer their friends and family to me. The normal dental experience in this world is "well, he didn't hurt me too much." I want people to rave about their dental visits, not just tell the usual "horror stories"! This book has been used in my office as a reading assignment and the subject of staff meetings, in an attempt to comunicate to my staff and have them deliver service that exceeds the patient's expectations. The simple style it's told in really keeps their attention, since most people will not read the more detailed and lengthy books on the market that are similar in substance. Highly recommended for any business person--large or small!


Planet Earth calling Ken Blanchard, come in, Ken.....   March 26, 2003
 17 out of 24 found this review helpful

This book is a must read for all teenagers considering a career at nearby Disney World.
Unfortunately, it was also required reading for the sales and service staff at the multi-car-line, new car mega-dealership where I previously worked, which, by the way, had the largest employee turn-over of any dealership I've seen in my twenty-five years in the business.
"Charlie" is the central male character. He plays the part of a benevolent Fairy Godmother. The "Celestial Equal Opprtunities Legislation" was looking for a male candidate, and ol' Charlie fit the bill. He's sent to earth to benefit the business world with three wonderful and mysterious secrets of success;
"DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT"
"DISCOVER WHAT THE CUSTOMER WANTS"
"DELIVER THE VISION PLUS ONE PERCENT"
Powerful stuff.

Charlie takes under his gossamer wing an insecure young company manager, and with the help of some fairy dust,
they visit several of Charlie's star pupils' buisinesses.
Red carpets are rolled out for department store shoppers and white carnations are pinned to their clothing as they enter. There are no waiting lines at the check-out counters, and if the store runs out of the item you're looking for, the manager will cheerfully send an employee to purchase it from his competition (while you're in the store shopping),
gift wrap it, and not charge any extra for the trouble. Valet parking at the grocery store by employees in bright green uniforms, store "advisors" to assist and shop with you, free shoe-shines for Daddy, and a day-care center for the rug-rats while Mommy loads up the shopping cart. And customers drive from forty miles away for the pleasure of
the experience. That would be like driving from Cocoa Beach to Orlando for your weekly food supplies.

In this fantasy world, all of the employees are energetic, thoughtful, and polite. They remind one of the bland, pleasant, smiling robots in the movie; "The Stepford Wives", except the business owners in this yarn have substituted their human employees for Stepford-style gas station attendants, grocery store clerks, and taxi cab drivers, all grinning, happy, and content with low paying, menial, nowhere jobs.

The simplicity of the writing style is suitable for ages six and up, as the following passage illustrates;
'"I'm not in touch with reality," the Area Manager thought.
"I've already gone off the deep end." "No you haven't," said the stranger, reading the Area Manager's mind. "Nothing is more real than your Fairy Godmother. You'll want to remember that."
"You can't be my Fairy Godmother," the Area Manager challenged, "you're a man"'.....

On the back cover of this important work are accolades from presidents of well known, billion dollar companies.
It boggles the mind of this layman to try and figure out what prompted such reviews. My conclusion is this; rich people(such as the owner of the dealership where I was formerly employed) really ARE different, and to try and pass off this drivel as an erudite method to achieve improved customer service proves beyond a doubt that aliens do exist.


You've Got to be Kidding   July 18, 2000
 16 out of 32 found this review helpful

This was the most insulting book I've ever been asked to read. It was simplistic, childish, and saccharine. I've read comic books that had more depth! In my view, anyone who buys into this cartoonish nonsense doesn't have the intellectual horsepower to lead an organization of any size.