Will Bermender's Roadmap
From startups and rapid growth environments to post-merger integrations and Fortune 500 turnarounds, Will Bermender has spent the past two decades building shareholder value by driving cross-functional process changes to align business processes around the customer.
In Upgrading the Customer Matrix, Bermender reveals how to unlock domain knowledge embedded in your company culture, leverage customer intelligence to build loyalty and market share, and integrate marketing, sales and customer service into every touchpoint in your organization. The result: a holistic view of your customer that empowers innovation and supercharges customer acquisition, retention and profitability.
Veteran Chief Customer Officer and Turnaround Leader Will Bermender dissects real world examples across media, retail, technology and consumer products sectors — identifying adaptable, proven strategies and tactics to accelerate value creation in any business stage or industry.
About the Book
In Upgrading the Customer Matrix, Will Bermender offers a transformative approach to business success by prioritizing customer delight over satisfaction. Drawing from his turnaround of ValueVision Media, Bermender argues that in a hypercompetitive market, companies must become experience-based organizations to maximize acquisition, retention, and profitability. Published in 2010, this 332-page book introduces “Revenue Architecture,” a customer-centric framework that reorients operations to build trust and loyalty.
Bermender contrasts customer-focused organizations, which design offerings around customer needs, with customer-manipulative ones that push products, using examples like Coca-Cola’s New Coke misstep. He advocates reversing the traditional value chain, starting with customer input, to create “WOW Customer Experiences.” His key tool, “Customer Experience Mapping,” ensures consistent, delightful interactions, as seen in a Toys “R” Us employee’s extraordinary effort to secure a rare Barbie doll.
The book emphasizes evolving from Customer Information Currency to Customer Trust Currency, fostering emotional bonds that turn customers into advocates. Bermender’s “WOW Customer Challenge” urges businesses to set expectations, empower employees, and measure delight, not just satisfaction. With actionable insights and a glossary of terms like “Emotional Trust Bond,” it equips leaders to differentiate through exceptional experiences. Ideal for businesses of all sizes, Upgrading the Customer Matrix is a practical guide to thriving in the customer-driven economy by making customers the heart of strategy.