The Customer Comes Second: Put Your People First and Watch 'em Kick Butt

Tom Peters says "Hal Rosenbluth's story is one of the great unsung business success sagas -- and in this fully revised and updated 10th anniversary edition of The Customer Comes Second, Rosenbluth and his co-author Diane McFerrin Peters offer proof that his leadership style is one for the new millennium.

The secret of his success, and that of his company, Rosenbluth International is simple: Hal Rosenbluth concentrates on his employees first, and his customers second. This is a formula that has worked for more than two decades, and has transformed his company from a small family business into a global industry leader, grossing over $6 billion.

In this classic on counterintuitive management practice, the entrepreneurial genius and visionary leader of Rosenbluth International shows you how to use exceptional service to win in any industry!

This insightful and compelling book reveals new ideas for hiring, motivating and managing employees, and shows how best to integrate technological innovation and creative solutions into the everyday work experience to ensure that your employees -- your company's greatest asset -- win you the best customers and propel your business to the greatest heights of success.

Rosenbluth's tried and tested methods show you how to build highly effective teams, inspire loyalty and initiative, and turn your workplace into a hotbed of synergy where people produce consistently incredible results.

For more than ten years, the strategies and ideas in this book have galvanized CEOs, entrepreneurs and managers everywhere, making fans of business leaders and thinkers like Jeff Greenfield, Scott McNealy and many others. These secrets continue to prove themselves today as Rosenbluth International has rapidly emerged as the foremost travel management company since its industry's devastation following 9/11. Find out how Hal Rosenbluth's winning ideas can transform you and your company: by putting your customer second, you're guaranteed to win!

Publishers Weekly

In an update to the volume they published 10 years ago, Rosenbluth, the CEO of an eponymous travel management company, and Peters, his former communications officer, remind readers that despite great changes in the business world, the need for companies "to attract, retain, and develop astonishingly great people" is a constant. They argue that company's employees, not its customers, should be management's top priority: managers should hire "nice people" and create an environment in which friendships can develop. Maybe it sounds a little wishy-washy, but it's worked for Rosenbluth International (NB: they have a 98% customer retention rate and $6.2 billion in annual sales). Tenets include: monitor company morale, keep leaders accessible, make your company "a lifestyle," offer lots of opportunities for learning new things, celebrate success, be flexible. By charting the changes within their own company, Rosenbluth and Peters show how other businesses can become better places to work as well. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.