"The core of customer intimacy lies in a simple - but radical - commitment: to deliver results. Not satisfaction, not delight, but the best possible solution to an individual customer's needs. Customer-intimate companies can sell virtually anthing: plastics, insurance, auto seats, tools, flowers, fitness gear... But whatever they're selling, their commitment to their customers' best results remains the same. Simple logic lies behind that commitment. Customer-intimate companies know their customers don't buy a product or a service. They buy its benefits. The bigger the benefits, the more product or service they'll buy - a result that pays off for buyer and seller alike. What's radical about this is the depth of commitment its execution requires. To deliver best results takes all the imagination, initiative, empathy, and dedication a company can muster to stretch its understanding of its mission, its organization, its culture, and its customers. Listen to how customer-intimate managers sell. Whatever specific benefit they offer a potential customer, they always invoke the same eloquent commitment, which they can express simply and directly enough to pass "the elevator test"... They'll talk results, hard and tangible. No generalizations. No partial solutions. They focus on the individual across from them, not a group or demographic construct. They understand that each customer's needs are unique and present an opportunity to deliver a unique solution. They don't say "That's too difficult" or "We don't do things that way". Instead they say, "Let's explore what we can do for you." "

P.S.: There are a host of other books that unfortunately I have not kept track of that have provided very interesting food for thought to me. I'll try to post them when I locate them.