Soundview Executive Book Summaries

Time magazine ran a blog post today speculating on the potential impact that customers of ING Direct will experience now that the online bank has been purchased by banking giant Capitol One(purveyors of the clever “What’s In Your Wallet” credit card ads). ING Direct’s reputation for being a customer-friendly outfit in an industry that tends to keep the customer beneath its heel is one of the biggest factors for the company’s success. In fact, as noted in the Time post, ING Direct’s customers “Have long gotten a kick out of the way the company’s marketing mocks other banks for being fee crazy and nickel and diming customers.”

The company’s founding and its radical approach to the personal savings model are a great story, one with which Soundview and its subscribers are quite familiar. We chronicled the history of ING Direct when we summarized The Orange Code: How ING Direct Succeeded by Becoming a Rebel With a Cause. The book was written by the company’s founder Arkadi Kuhlmann and Bruce Philp, the branding consultant who brought the company’s message to the masses. The summary provides a revealing look at what it takes to demonstrate transparency to your customers and maintain competitive advantage in an industry where price can sway a customer’s mind.

In addition, Soundview also had the good fortune to provide our subscribers with an exclusive 60-minute Soundview Live Webinar featuring Arkadi Kuhlmann discussing the power of having an unrelenting focus on one’s customers. Fortunately, if you missed the event the first time it aired, there is an archive link available. Click here to learn more.

For more information and for more books on notable companies, visit Soundview’s Web site, Summary.com.