Blog
United Airlines Should’ve Followed JetBlue’s lesson
Actions speak louder than words. We know a company is telling the truth by their history of promise keeping. The focus should be less about immediate damage control and more about building a deep reservoir of trust. There will always be hiccups. Customer service is...
Does Your Service Have a Busy Stage Door?
The stage door. It is the thespian demarcation line between fact and fiction; between fantasy and reality. It is the place adoring fans await to see performers after a play or concert. It is a setting for autographs, selfies, and intimate relationship-building. It is...
Is Your Customer Service Accessible?
What if you were required to fill out an online form if wanted the phone number or address of an enterprise with whom you wanted to do business? Let’s say you were driving to a meeting at their location and you needed to contact someone to let them know you were...
Unleashing the Power of Small Batch Service
The news announces that Sears is closing stores. Last week Macy’s and JC Penney made similar announcements. What’s happening to big box merchandising? Some can be blamed on the change in buyer demographics—“shop ‘til you drop” baby boomers are buying less as they...
A More Perfect Derriere: Confident Humility
Guest post, by Bill Treasurer Leaders are likely to get a butt kick during some point (if not many times) during their career. Butt kicks are life’s mysterious and painful way of reminding us of the dangers of too much or too little confidence. There is a delicate...
Bill Treasurer is a Kaleidoscope Leader
Kaleidoscopes are really cool toys. Turn them or shake them and they surprise you with their ever changing cavalcade of sparkles! But, the stones inside (granddaughters call them jewels) never change. You don’t open up a kaleidoscope and change the cut glass that...
Service Like a Candle
“Is this a happy day for you?” I cheerfully asked the sales clerk as I was checking out of a large retail store. Ironically, “Joy to the World” was playing in the background and twinkling holiday lights were everywhere. To be honest, my query had an ulterior...
Storytelling Power
Guest post by James Mapes The founder of Quantum Leap Thinking, creator of The Transformational Coach, and an expert on the psychology of applied imagination, James Mapes is a highly acclaimed business speaker and personal excellence coach. HOW TO IGNITE YOUR BRAIN...
Hardwire Learning into Customer Contact Performance
A reputable B2B company recently received feedback indicating widespread customer concern they were not helping their customers remain on the cutting edge of their own industries. The company was so focused on trying to sell they lost sight of helping their customers...
Why Not Add Elegance?
We checked into the Lake Lure Inn. Built in 1927, the antique North Carolina hotel served as command central for the making of the movie Dirty Dancing. You now can stay in the Patrick Swayze Suite or the Jennifer Gray Suite. Furnished with exquisite period furniture...
Olympic Service with Abundance
The antique pipe under the bathroom sink at my weekend river house finally busted, streaming water all over the floor. Fortunately, I was there when it happened and could quickly stop the hemorrhaging. But, it was 9 o’clock at night and I needed a part I did not...
A Ring for Your Customer’s Horses
The Medici family was the richest family in Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries. Based in Florence, their banks (one of the first branch banking systems in history) loaned money to kings and rulers throughout Europe. They were to Europe what John Rockefeller, Andrew...
Star Spangled Service
Walk into the lobby of a Westin Hotel and your nose knows the scent suddenly shifts from the “smell of the street” to a signature fragrance called “White Tea.” Reach the checkout counter of Dallas garden center Nicholson-Hardie and you can pet a big calico cat...
Serving Customers When Pain Is Involved
The Cincinnati Zoo is forced to shoot a rare gorilla that potentially threatened a boy who had fallen into the gorilla cage. Disney World lost a 2-year old guest to an alligator in an on-property lagoon. A massive hurricane put the local utility company in its bull’s...
Lighting Up Customers With Sprinkles
Today was my semi-annual dental cleaning. My dentist, Dr. Norm Lee, is a big fan of “only cleaning the teeth you plan to keep!” I got more than clean teeth; I got service with sprinkles. But, I am getting way ahead of myself. My teeth cleaning started with a text two...