[...]... meet the needs of the people who are part of the organization and its mission T R P A I The Theory T his book is broken up into three parts: The Theory, The Application, and The Results This first part covers how the theory got formulated using the Federal Express start-up story as the primary example 1 2 C u s t o m e r C u lt u r e CustomerCulture is primarily about building an action/reaction culture... turn the water on This is a simple example of how systems work and how customer focus evolves products and solutions to customers’ needs Another example… Introduction xxiii You’re late for an important appointment You get in your car and quickly accelerate up to the speed limit You constantly look at the speedometer and press and release the gas pedal to reach the optimum speed You observe the traffic and. .. the cultural standards CustomerCulture is about consciously building the customercentered organization where employees are focused on serving their customers (internal or external) for sustained, profitable growth Back to systems that drive our behaviors Some simple examples of systems in action… You step into a shower and turn the water on With one hand in the water and the other on the valve, you... Chicago, and other major cities in the east We put a team together with the mission to get 15 cities opened in 15 business days The team would fly into a city with specific roles One person took care of the Piper Cub and found a motel for everyone, another found a place for the cargo jet to unload and be serviced, another found a place for the trucks and couriers, and the fourth would go…to a bar during... earlier, and they had told him to come back when we were in business Now we were, and we were ready I was Senior Vice President of Sales and Customer Service That meant setting up the pickup and delivery operation, along with the sales and service operations Each evening, for the past two and a half months, we had a conference call to review the results of the sales calls for the day, and we’d track the. .. understanding cultural structures and building and applying them in ways that enable you and your people to relearn your business every day, to help you constantly grow in delivering products and services focused on customers, products, and services that customers are willing to pay for and that make you lots of money CustomerCulture seeks to apply a systems foundation to your cultural structures and then... existing cultures and starting up new businesses Federal Express is the primary example because I participated in the initial development of the culture from the ground up The company’s culture has withstood the test of time and continues to flourish against enormous competition from one of the best companies in their industry—UPS Introduction xxv Little is known about UPS, but it is one of the strongest,... changing the way that people behave in some way, you must change the culture that these people operate in In effect, you must change the system or the action/reaction paradigm that makes up your corporate (or family) culture People instinctively adapt to the culture they step into If the culture is high performing, people will be high performing or will leave if they are not willing to perform to the cultural... salespeople there with instructions to GET THE PACKAGES from RCA and to call when he had received the commitment and the packages He called me that first day and said the traffic manager wouldn’t see him I suggested that he get a good book and wait in the lobby all month until the guy would see him He called the next afternoon and said that he finally saw the traffic manager at 3:30 p.m after waiting in the lobby... large companies Companies didn’t care about their people Fred wanted to build a people-first company I had added the word “Service” to the mix, so the mantra had become and still is today: People—Service—Profit That was all well and good, but we needed PACKAGES and we needed them NOW One of the most valuable lessons was the power of people when they have a common vision and commitment In this case, the . Management Michael Basch CustomerCulture: How FedEx and Other Great Companies Put the Customer First Every Day Deirdre Breakenridge Cyberbranding: Brand Building in the Digital Economy William. Madrid • Paris • Milan • Munich • Amsterdam www.ft-ph.com Customer Culture: How FedEx ® and Other Great Companies Put the Customer First Every Day Michael D. Basch 02FMTitle.FM Page. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Basch, Michael. Customer culture : how Fed Ex and other great companies put the customer first every day / Michael Basch. p. cm. (Financial Times