Blog
Clear the Customer Experience Parking Lot
Parking lot. We use it in the meeting management world to mean an agenda item that is tabled for later discussion. It is generally posted on a sheet of flip chart paper, taped on the meeting wall, and then placed on the agenda of the next meeting so it is...
Serving with “Kentucky Windage”
My very rural hometown was (and is) in the middle of hunting country. And, I lived on a farm deep in the pine woods on the edge of a swamp. As a youngster I hunted dove, quail and squirrel that often wound up on our supper table. I do not hunt today...
Mooring Customers
Boating is a lot of fun, especially on a large lake with lots of great sights to see and places to go. I live on the shores of beautiful Lake Oconee. One of my favorite evening activities is piloting my pontoon boat to one of three nice restaurants on the...
Smile Study: Guest Post by David Nielson
Whether it is physically less exhausting to smile than to scowl, it is certainly beneficial, and thus there is something to this ancient exhortation to put aside negative emotions long enough to “turn a frown upside down.” In a 2002 study performed in Sweden,...
Celebrating Bridge-Builders
A crowded Montgomery, Alabama city bus stopped at its usual spot and a middle-aged African-American woman boarded the bus. As the bus pulled away, she realized every seat was taken and was prepared to take the trip on her feet. But, something changed that...
Delivering Service That Soars
Over the holidays my wife and I visited the U.S.S. Intrepid, an aircraft carrier docked in the Manhattan harbor. The museum on the deck of the ship houses the space shuttle, Enterprise. Nearby is a tribute to Charles F. Bolden, Jr. who served as NASA...
Applying the 23 MPH Principle
Walk into the lobby of the five-star Mansion on Turtle Creek hotel in Dallas and the first thing you notice are the extraordinary flowers in the middle of the lobby. They do not look like they came from the local nursery; they look like they came from the...
Serving on the Muddy Side of the Field
It had been raining for days…hard at times. The soccer fields were saturated. But, a day of laser sunlight made a soccer game possible. One side of the field was relatively dry; the other had a few mud holes in low places…like right in front of the...
Are You a Disrupter?
“If I had asked customers what they wanted,” Henry Ford is rumored to have said, “They would have said faster horses.” Now, before you fire your market research person, it is important to remember Henry Ford’s arrogance about customers also lead him to chide,...
These Boots Are Made for Talking
I am a Lucchese boot man. I have been wearing Lucchese’s high-end, super comfortable Western boots handmade in El Paso for many years. And, I am on my fifth pair—all with a tailored toe, heel, leather, size and color. They are like working in bedroom...
Will You Put Skin in the Service Game?
The holidays bring businesses staffed with part time employees helping to cover the busiest buying season in the retail world. Some part timers are great and need little leadership or direction to create awesome experiences. However, some are just looking for extra...
Add Sprinkles to Your Customers’ Experiences
“Anyone who’s a chef, who loves food, ultimately knows that all that matters is: Is it good? Does it give pleasure?” wrote the late Anthony Bourdain, celebrity chef and host of the TV show Parts Unknown. Innovative service is a blend of these same two...
Make Service Neapolitan, Not Vanilla
I have a confession, I almost always go for the “off the beaten path” choice. Tried and true is typically trumped by “I’ve never had that before.” So, you can imagine my reaction when the waiter seated us and handed us the breakfast menu with the...
A River Runs Through Service
Standing on the banks of a magnificent river, your imagination can run wild. A mighty river can take you many miles, connecting you with countless ports and people along the way. Rivers are still an important source of commerce transportation. It is...
Serving Like a Wise Owl
Audubon Magazine features annually their photography awards. This is the magazine of the National Audubon Society, the oldest conservation organization in the world for the protection of birds. Their 2018 grand prize winner was Steve Mattheis who made an...