This text was adapted from Customer Centric Strategy by Kerri Shields, a textbook published by the eCampusOntario (and BCCampus) under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, unless otherwise noted. This adapted version has been reorganized by Dr. Shawna Coram (moving, removing chapters, removing some content) and revised to include some American context and examples.

We would like to thank the original creator of this content for making it available to all as an open textbook. Her introduction to the original text is on the following page. We will use the adaptation in our MAN4162: Customer Relations for Managers course at Florida State College at Jacksonville.

Adaptation Statement

The following changes were made to this textbook:

The title name and front cover photo (by RODNAE Productions from Pexels).

References to Canadian businesses were replaced with American businesses or companies. Likewise, Canadian-British spellings were replaced with American spellings of English words.

Chapter 4: Verbal Communication contains content from the following sources:

• Chapter 1: Effective Business Communication by Venecia Williams from Fundamentals of Business Communication, which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), except where otherwise noted.
• Section 13.1 “Verbal Communication and Conversation” by Jordan Smith et al. in Chapter 13: Interpersonal Communication from NSCC Communication Skills For Trades, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), except where otherwise noted; which is a derivative of Chapter 10, Section 1 from Professional Communications by Jordan Smith; Melissa Ashman; eCampusOntario; Brian Dunphy; and Andrew Stracuzzi, licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 except where otherwise noted.

Chapter 5: Nonverbal Communication contains content from the following sources:

• “Human Relations” adapted by Saylor Academy (2012) under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensor.
• Section 11.1 “Principles of Nonverbal Communication” by Scott McLean in Chapter 11: Nonverbal Delivery from Communication for Business Success (v. 1.0), licensed Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA-3.0).
• Section 13.2 “Non-verbal Communication” by Jordan Smith/NSCC and Section 13.12 “Nonverbal Communication” by ashleyorme in Chapter 13: Interpersonal Communication from NSCC Communication Skills For Trades, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), except where otherwise noted. Section 13.2 is a derivative of “Unit 43: Non-verbal Communication” from Communication Skills: NSCC Edition by Jordan Smith and NSCC.

Chapter 6: Listening Skills contains content from the following sources:

• “Chapter 13: Interpersonal Communication” by ashleyorme from NSCC Communications Skills for Trades licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, which is a derivative of “Chapter 3: Why aren’t they listening to me? Listening as a superpower and other important skills” by Ashley Orme Nichols from Making Conflict Suck Less: The Basics, which is also licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, except where otherwise noted. Material in those chapters were adapted from “Chapter 5: Listening” from A Primer on Communication Studies licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensor and “Failures of Awareness: The Case of Inattentional Blindness” by Daniel Simons licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Chapter 7: Interpersonal Communication Preferences contains content from the following sources:

• “Your Interpersonal Communication Preferences” by J.R. Dingwall, Chuck Labrie; Trecia McLennon; and Laura Underwood from Professional Communications: Canadian Edition by J.R. Dingwall, Chuck Labrie, Trecia McLennon, and Laura Underwood was published by Olds College and eCampusOntario Open Library under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), except where otherwise noted. That chapter was derived in part from “8.1 Foundations of Culture and Identity” from A Primer on Communication Studies (v. 1.0) archived by Andy Schmitz (2012) under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensor.
• “Working with Customer Diversity” from Unit 2, Section 2.3 in CUST105: Customer Service by Saylor Academy is licensed Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0), except where otherwise noted.

Chapter 8: Customer Service in a Diverse World contains content from the following sources:

• “Chapter 2: Managing Demographic and Cultural Diversity” from Organizational Behaviour adapted for Seneca College by Melissa Warner and Nadia Bedok, and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which is partially a derivative of “Managing Demographic and Cultural Diversity,” chapter 2 from the book An Introduction to Organizational Behavior (v. 1.0) archived by Andy Schmitz (2012) under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensor.
• “Working with Customer Diversity” from Unit 2, Section 2.3 in CUST105: Customer Service by Saylor Academy is licensed Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported, except where otherwise noted.