Speakers

Speaker Service Center (SSC)

Keynote Speaker: Chip Bell

Chip R. Bell is the author of several bestselling books on the changing world of customers and ways to create the kind of customer loyalty that drives growth, reputation and profits.

His books have been endorsed by the presidents or CEOs of such service greats as Starbucks, Zappos.com, Ritz-Carlton Hotels, Build-A-Bear Workshops, JetBlue, Marriott, Chick-fil-A and Southwest Airlines. His newest book, Wired and Dangerous: How Your Customers Have Changed and What To Do About It, will be in bookstores in the spring of 2011. In this book, Bell reveals the secrets of how to effectively serve today’s customers who are picky (demanding value), fickle (quick to exit), vocal (assertively voicing their views) and vain (seeking only personalized service). Bell colorfully demonstrates how the best service providers in the world (many of his clients) have used a deep understanding of the new-normal customer to bring innovation to the customer experiences they deliver. His twenty-five years as a customer loyalty consultant plus his pioneering research combine to yield a memorable keynote laced with sustainable practices and imaginative ideas. His work has revolutionized the way organizations think about their customers.

His most recent best-selling book Take Their Breath Away: How Imaginative Service Creates Devoted Customers outlines practical, yet provocative ways to bring creativity and
innovation to service experiences in a way that creates a buzz. Too long organizations have relied on value-added . . . upgrading your hotel room or comping your dessert . . . to wow their customers. That service path to loyalty is way too expensive today. Bell’s approach focuses on value-unique—bringing the unexpected and simple to the experience in a way that turns loyalty customers into devoted fans while re-energizing frontline employees. His Knock Your Socks Off Service books (with the late Ron Zemke) were ground-breaking best-selling books that sold over a million copies.

He is the founder of The Chip Bell Group and works from their offices in Atlanta and Dallas. Prior to starting the customer loyalty consulting firm in 1980, he was vice president and director of Management and Organization Development for NCNB, now Bank of America. Bell holds graduate degrees in organizational psychology and human resource development from Vanderbilt University and the George Washington University. He was a highly decorated infantry unit commander in Vietnam with the elite 82nd Airborne Division.

He has appeared live on CNBC, CNN, ABC, Bloomberg TV, NPR and Reuters and his work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, FORTUNE, Business Week, USA Today, Inc. Magazine and Entrepreneur Magazine. Additionally, he has authored over 300 articles in professional and industry journals. He is a frequent contributor to over a dozen blogs and has conducted countless webinars on remarkable service.

Bell logs over 100,000 air miles a year working with organizations on creating innovative experiences for customers. He has served as consultant and/or trainer to such major brands as Ritz-Carlton Hotels, USAA, Harley-Davidson, Universal Orlando, Hertz, Bank of America, Nissan Infiniti, Microsoft, CVS/Pharmacy, Macy’s, Verizon Wireless, Allstate, Marriott, Duke Energy, Accenture, Cadillac and Lockheed-Martin.

On the personal side, he has been married for over forty years to Dr. Nancy Rainey Bell, an attorney and educational leadership consultant. His son is an Atlanta-based commercial real estate specialist and his daughter-in-law is a former middle school teacher. Bell enjoys fishing, boating, entertaining and playing with his three granddaughters.