FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

First Annual Customer Innovation Awards, The Pattys, to Honor the Achievements of Business Leaders who Have Reaped the Rewards of Customer-Led Innovation

Patricia Seybold Group Announces Call for Nominations

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BOSTON, MA - December 16, 2005 – The Patricia Seybold Group, the customer experience experts, today announced their first-ever Customer Innovation Awards. Nicknamed “The Pattys,” after best-selling author and customer visionary Patricia Seybold, the awards will honor the business leaders who have empowered their customers to challenge their business models, co-design their products, and redesign their business processes.

Customers have become more demanding. They want to do things their way, and not necessarily the way a business thinks they should behave. As a result, many companies struggle to become more customer focused. The Pattys will celebrate the best practices in customer innovation, including, but not limited to, the use of Patricia Seybold Group’s Customer Scenario® Mapping, a proven methodology for co-designing business processes with customers.

The Pattys will acknowledge customer innovation leaders in 8 categories. These categories represent the different roles customers play in innovation. Customer Innovation Leaders typically engage customers in multiple roles, so nominees and applicants are encouraged to enter more than one category.

The 8 Roles that Customers Play in Business Innovation:

• Problem-Solvers - Creating knowledge by solving each other's problems
• Guides - Creating Value by providing filters, insights, perspectives, reviews
• Improvisers and Customizers - Creating new, personalized solutions/mixes
• Co-Designers - Co-designing new products and processes
• Creators - Create their products and your products
• Promoters - Promoting and distributing your products
• Collaborators - Working with one another to create new offerings
• Market-Makers - Becoming sellers as well as buyers; Spawning an ecosystem

To learn how to submit nominations, visit http://www.psgroup.com/innovationawards.aspx. The deadline for nominations is February 15, 2006. Finalists will be announced in April 2006. Award winners will be honored in an awards ceremony in September 2006. Winners will gain global recognition and acclaim by being featured in Patricia Seybold’s upcoming book on customer innovation, Outside Innovation, to be published in the Fall of 2006.

About Patricia Seybold Group

Founded in 1978 and based in Boston, Massachusetts, the Patricia Seybold Group supports customer-centric business and technology executives around the world, helping them transform their organizations to be customer-adaptive and easy to do business with. The company provides consulting, advisory services, research reports, peer groups, workshops, and its Customer Scenario® Mapping licensed methodology. Visionary and customer-focused executives turn to the Patricia Seybold Group for ongoing strategic advice, business and technology guidance, customer experience best practices, and help with customer-centric initiatives. The CEO and founder, Patricia Seybold, is the New York Times best-selling author of Customers.com and The Customer Revolution.