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What happens when your customers become DEVOTED customers vs. loyal or happy customers? This question is answered in a new book by Chip R. Bell and John Patterson. These two guys know something about customer relationships. Between the two of them they have written a whopping 18 books.

If you are in sales their new book Take Their Breath Away: How Imaginative Service Creates Devoted Customers should be on your reading list. The book takes a fresh approach to interacting with customers and is designed to help sales professionals, managers and business leaders develop teams that do more than give good service and instead focus on customer experience.

I believe strongly that customer experience will be the key competitive differentiator in the next iteration of our economy. As we emerge from this terrible economic crisis a new generation of customers will have expectations that are different than those of the boom years of the late nineties and the early part of this decade. Sales teams and individuals that are inventive, imaginative and create experiences for their customers that lead to devotion will be the winners in the next economy.

In Take Their Breath Away Bell and Patterson draw a clear distinction between devotion and loyalty. I love the concept of devotion.

Loyalty is logical. Loyal customers come back and buy more because they get their needs served and problems solved. Which makes sense.

Devotion on the other hand is an emotional connection to you, your brand, your company, and your products. It is visceral. Devotion tweets about you on twitter. Devotion posts blogs about you. Devotion shouts your name from the roof tops. Devotion defends you when you make a mistake. Devotion is a walking, talking advertisement. Customer devotion should be the ultimate goal of every business leader and Sales Professional.

So here are some questions for you:

What are you and your team doing right now to be sure that today’s customers don’t belong to your competitors tomorrow? How are you managing and improving your customers’ experience with you, your organization, and your product or service? What was that last truly imaginative thing you or your team did aimed at improving customer service? And finally a tough one. Are your customers devoted, loyal, or just plain bored? Look around you. Every one of your competitors is scrambling for business. They need sales. And with fewer businesses buying, the competition for the ones that are is beyond fierce. Losing customers impacts every person across your enterprise.

Your best defense and your competitive differentiator is your ability to create great experiences for your customers. I like Take Their Breath Away because it is not just another Kumbaya, feel good customer service book. There is real, actionable advice and techniques you and your team can put into place immediately. I recommend taking a chapter at a time and making it a central part of your weekly team meetings or daily huddles. And though Rome wasn’t built in a day, with regular focus on these concepts, you will find that you and your team become more engaged, imaginative, enthusiastic, and in tune with customer experience. In time you may just reach nirvana – customer devotion – and in turn a growing, profitable, fun place to work, no matter what economic conditions rage in the marketplace.