Blog
What Color is Your Service Flame?
It’s that time of year when fireplace pilot lights get lit. And, the gas logs in the den at my river house needed readying for the winter. It can get cold in the mountains of North Georgia. But, the pilot light would light, but not stay lit. So, I called my local...
I am “Great-full”
The word “grateful” comes from the Latin word Gratus that meant, “pleasing or agreeable.” We use it now as the expression of thanks to those who please us in some manner. The word gets used a lot around this season of the year. But, it should not be a seasonal...
Say ‘Thanks’ with Sprinkles This Year!
This is the season we find ways to thank customers for their patronage. We might send customers a note, a card, a 2015 calendar, a ‘thank you’ email or a Starbucks card. If the customer habitually gives loyal patronage to other service providers, your expression of...
Be a Warrior of Service
“I’m a soldier of service,” he said proudly when I thanked him for helping me locate an item in the Home Depot. 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 they need.” I...
The Quality of Service
Mrs. Pope was my fifth grade teacher. I did not know the word back then, but she was a renaissance teacher. As her students, we painted, sculpted, created scrapbooks, played classroom games, learned poetry, and staged musicals complete with costumes. It was the...
Give Customers What You Are Destined to Give
The Chef is a great, feel-good movie about a (duh!!) chef who is divorced from his wife and estranged from his only child—a bright young boy eager to have a relationship with his dad. Carl Casper (the chef), despite his foibles in personal relationships, is an...
Is Your Service Concierge?
My wife and I grabbed a quick weekend in New York City. After arriving at The London hotel on Friday afternoon armed only with advance tickets to a Friday night and Saturday afternoon play, we went straight to the hotel concierge! We needed help with dinner...
Get it Your Way!
Let’s start with two principles: 1) There is a good service person inside almost every front-line server; and, 2) as a customer able to see the absurdity of stupid service rules, we need to sometimes help the service person navigate the rules that govern their...
What if Service Processes Were Customer-Controlled?
When I was in high school, I sang in the high school glee club. One song I recall was called, “My Grandfather’s Clock.” Written by Henry Clay Work in 1876, the most dramatic lyrics of the song were found in the second verse, “It was bought on the morn of the day...
The Alchemy of Innovative Service
Alchemists of ancient times tried for centuries to create a mythical substance known as the philosopher’s stone. This red, waxy material was claimed to possess the power to turn base metals like lead into gold. But despite the alchemists’ intellectual and...
The Rules of Combat and Open-Door Leadership
Hugh L. McColl, Jr. is the retired chairman and CEO of Bank of America. An ex-marine officer in the late fifties, his business leadership style was swashbuckling, colorful and focused. Wall Street analysts characterized him as a no-holds barred tactical genius who...
The Hopeful Wait Principle
One of the most well-known verses of scripture in the old testament is the line from Psalm 27: “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage…” It was the scripture passage for the sermon at my church. But, I learned a unique fact. The imperative verb translated “wait” is the...
Calling Your Customer’s Name
As a young boy I spent a lot of time with my grandfather. We spent hours together fishing, working in the fields, and telling tall tale stories around a fire. One of my favorite memories was sitting out under the stars in his backyard listening to night birds. In the...
Turning Mundane into Magic
The Magic Castle in Beverly Hills, CA is a haven for magicians. You can get in the castle only by invitation from a member, typically a magician. You arrive and enter a door into the library after you have uttered the secret password. There is dinner followed by magic...
The Cultural Sweet Spot
The sweet spot is that place where a combination of factors result in the optimum response for a given amount of effort. It is a phrase particularly used in sports. It is the spot on the golf club or tennis racket where the intersection of the ball with the effort of...