Blog
Be a John McCain Warrior of Service
“I’m a soldier of service,” he said proudly when I thanked him for help in locating an item in the Home Depot near my home. I smiled and asked him what that meant. “It means I am here in service of my customers,” he replied. “My job is to quickly get them whatever...
Are Your Customers ‘Gluten Intolerant’?
My brother and his wife and their two grown children with spouses and children are spending the weekend with us. With my reputation as Mr. Customer Service on the line, we want to be the "hostess with the mostest." My brother’s son-in-law is gluten intolerant. It...
Preparing for ‘Lightning’ in Your Customer Experience
It was a sudden storm, one that blew up with little warning. I was in the hardware store near my home. Strong wind and driving rain falling at greater than a 45-degree angle caused me to worry about getting out to my car in the parking lot without becoming soaked....
Applying the ’23 MPH Principle’ to Your Customer Experience
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 jungle....
The Magic of Willowy Customer Service
The straight-line winds came through the area at 60 miles per hour. Giant pines, maples and pin oaks came crashing to the ground. But, all the tall willow trees remained standing. It was my neighbor’s nearby property in the mountains of North Georgia. Our property...
Are You a Disruptor?
“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,...
Give Customers an Uncloudy Day
As many times as I have sung the song in church, I never paid much attention to the implications of the words of the old Protestant song entitled “Uncloudy Day.” We don’t use that phrase anymore—days are either clear, partly cloudy, or cloudy. But, the backstory is of...
Do You Want Fan, or Air Conditioned Customer Service?
The air conditioning system broke in the little country church we attend when we have a getaway weekend to our North Georgia river house. It was a hotter than normal day, even for the normally cool mountain area. So, the church ceiling fans were turned on! It was an...
‘Elegance Without Warmth is Arrogance’
The pinnacle of culinary excellence is arguably a meal prepared at the renowned Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. This institution is to food what Juilliard is to music. The world’s greatest chefs come here to learn their profession. Meals are prepared...
Build a Balm in Customer Service
It happened in a large field after it started to rain. Three hundred people were in make-shift tents or thin ponchos on rural property owned by David Hill. It was a chilly night in late March and people huddled to keep warm. They were on a historic journey. All day...
A New Model to Explain Remote Leadership
Guest post, by Kevin Eikenberry Most people will agree that leading people from a distance (also known as remote leadership) feels very different from the way we’ve always worked in the past. It’s easy to point to factors like a lack of eye contact, or the inability...
Customer Service Saga With of a Side of Grits
It was supposed to be a romantic breakfast at a renovated historic hotel in mid-town Atlanta. It was early, the restaurant was not crowded, yet our waitress had obviously shifted to a low gear before we arrived. My wife and I ordered the same basic meal and intended...
Helen of Service?
In Greek mythology, Helen, like many rock stars who followed her, had no last name. She was simply known as Helen of Sparta. Mythology claims she was the daughter of Zeus, the head god of all the inhabitants of Mount Olympus. Married to King Menelaus of Sparta, she...
Keeping the Wonderment of a Trainee
Sarah was obviously brand new on the front desk of the upscale hotel in Las Vegas where I was staying. My first question at check-in yielded a zealous, “I am new and I do not know the answer, but please let me find out.” She sported a trainee designation under her...
‘Would You Like to Hear a Story?’
Last week, I requested an Uber in Richmond, Va., and got a delightful surprise. When I boarded the car at the Richmond Airport en route to a downtown hotel, my driver turned, introduced himself, and shook my hand. Then, he asked a magical question: “Would you like to...