June 2016 | Page 20

Marilyn Suttle and coauthor, Lori Jo Vest debuting their book, Taming Gladys, at a SOCAP meeting at the Ford Estate. THE GLADYS EFFECT Who’s Your Gladys? was Marilyn Suttle’s first best-selling book. Lori Jo Vest is Marilyn’s coauthor and dear friend. “Lori and I have been in a mastermind group for twelve years, and she coauthored both of my books with me. “ Gladys represented that meddlesome, interfering, annoying customer. If you can see her and treat her as a person, not a problem, Gladys can end up being your biggest cheerleader and advocate. “I use the name Gladys to humanize the customer that makes you want to run from 20 | Eydis Magazine the room screaming. Everyone has different triggers—things that set them off. Everyone has a different Gladys. Gladys is your vocal, emotional, irritating, and difficult customer,” explains Marilyn. She represents your personal challenge. She is not polite. She has no filter for being nice. And Marilyn teaches that she is a gift. She doesn’t appear that way, but she will bring every little thing to your attention and force you to pay attention to details that you have become blind to seeing. Fierce Customer Loyalty, is Marilyn and Lori Jo Vest’s second book. This is a sort of boot camp, short resource book of about 100 pages with twelve sections. You can use the concepts of this book individually or with a group. This is a book about creating lasting customer relationships; a practical application book. Suttle and Vest took six companies through this book chapter by chapter. Taming Gladys: The Busy Leaders Guide to Creating “This book is not ideas or theory. It really works,” relates