Dr. Rick Lytle received his PhD in Marketing from Arizona State. He’s been invited back this month to attend their 25th annual Services Leadership Institute, which is focusing on “Do you know what your customers truly want from you?”. Leading academicians and many CEOs from Fortune 500 companies are gathering for three days in the desert where they will address the following questions and challenges:
- Do you know what your customers truly want from you?
- How do they need to receive your service offerings in the way that works best for them?
- What is the price the are willing to pay?
- What is the service experience they are expecting?
We checked in with Dr. Lytle while in Tempe to hear how things are going. Here’s what he said:
It is my first time back in 20 years. My professors extended me an opportunity to come and participate in the Institute this Spring where I used to do research as a doctoral student years ago. Today, ASU’s Center for Services Leadership is the premier center in the world for the study of Services Marketing. It is an honor to be back.
My focus areas were services marketing and strategy. I am seeking to stay current in my academic discipline though serving as dean. My purpose in coming is threefold 1) stay current in the discipline to further my teaching and research, 2)preparing to teach a services marketing class in our curriculum, and 3) I am beginning to work on a second book based on my dissertation research in this field.
I am gathered with about 40 managers from organizations like GE, Siemens, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Mayo Clinic, Abbott Labs, and CVS Caremark. Our first session today was led by Dr. Roger Hallowell former Harvard Professor and Services Marketing expert. One take away, don’t pay people excess money, pay them excess attention if you want to create a culture of service excellence and performance.