Flip the Funnel

by Joseph Jaffe

Book Overview

Why customer retention is the new acquisition

If there's anything the recession of 2009 taught us, it was the importance of investing in our customers, but when was this any different? So says Joseph Jaffe, bestselling author of Life After the 30-Second Spot and Join the Conversation, and a leading expert and thought leader on new media and social media. In most businesses, it costs roughly five-to-ten times more to acquire a new...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0470487852
• ISBN13: 9780470487853
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.2" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

An important book for mapping marketing's future

Despite several minor flaws, Flip the Funnel is a well-written tour-de-force that argues skillfully that marketing's obsession with customer acquisition--instead of retention--is bass-ackwards. Not only that, Jaffe shows that it's not a simple case of imbalanced priorities. By laying out a coherent rationale for winning new customers via customer service-focused retention, he boldly imagines what lies beyond Net Promoter Scores and viral froth. This author worships no sacred cows. He's unafraid to lampoon marketing and service worst practices wherever they're found: traditional, digital, new, old or social. The context he provides for many popular marketing ideas and theories will connect the dots in new ways for many readers. Despite its consumer slant, Flip the Funnel is possibly the most important book for B2B marketers since Permission Marketing or Cluetrain.

I Flipped for Flip the Funnel

Joe Jaffe was already clearly a thought-leader when he wrote for us at MEDIA Magazine a decade ago. In his latest book, Flip the Funnel, the best mind of his generation continues to show the way. Allan Hoving Advisor to Futurists

The Funnel is Broken

Marketing classes still teach the classic funnel approach but there's no question it's broken. Personally I'm not sure it was every very healthy, but in today's social driven world the flaws are obvious. Jaffe does a great job of using the funnel metaphor to explain how businesses can attract the right customer, create the right experience and then watch those thrilled customers turn into a referral machine. I've been promoting a similar idea for a number of years but I call it the marketing hourglass. The concept of doing more with the right customer is a powerful one and this book dives deeper into how than any other I've read. John Jantsch author of The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself

A Must Read for Sales Professionals

Once again, Jaffe challenges the reader to break through conventional tactics of increasing sales and delivering value. This book is the perfect blueprint for any organization committed to delivering the best customer experience 24/7/365. Buy this book, read it, read it again and ACT.

Flip the Funnel - Impact on Mindsink Customer Service Model

In this innovative approach to acquisition marketing, Joseph Jaffe takes us a step beyond his iconic "Join the Conversation" to give us a way of behaving towards our customers once we've actually joined them in that conversation. Jaffe describes a new paradigm for acquiring customers. He recommends driving an active, impactful, and conscientious retention strategy. Retention is the new way to acquire. Thus, the funnel is flipped. Use those you have to get more. This is an especially practical approach to marketing in these times of recession where marketing efficiency and costs matter more than ever. Since acquisition costs are always high, Jaffe argues, use retention of your current customers as a way to get more. Jaffe's offers a philosophical approach to doing business and a rationale for customer service. Providing excellent customer service is not only the way to retain customers, but it's smart business, a raison d'etre, providing value, a sense of community and an impeccable customer experience. And what better way to show your customers that you are listening (to their conversations) than by giving them back the great service you've learned they want. Jaffe's book is an important read for those interested in net promoter score (NPS) - the loyalty-based idea developed by Bain Consulting, Satmetrix and Fred Reichheld - as he adds even more qualitative and common sense support to those notions for measuring customer feedback and for setting standards for measuring and improving customer service. Jaffe offers up a social media interpretation of net promoter score. According to Jaffe, customers are an under utilized asset and customer service can become a transformational factor in business as a value added resource and revenue generator. Long relegated to a place at the end of the list from a marketer's stand point, customer service now rises to the top as a strategic imperative. Jaffe provides many examples of companies winning the loyalty and profitability battle through excellent customer service, paying attention to what customers are saying, developing trust, partnership, community and a real relationship. Make no mistake about it. This is not your grandfather's customer service that he is talking about. This is putting a WOW into customer service. Jaffe's result turns out to be not unlike the ideal in NPS: satisfied customers who become influencers, advocates, and evangelists for the brand, the company and its products. Their powerful word of mouth marketing is the most believable reference out there and an extension of the marketing department. Very highly recommended. Reviewed by Elliot Levy-Bencheton, Principal, Mindsink Strategic Solutions