Blog
Do Customers See a Light On in Your Service People?
Today’s customers are frustrated with indifferent service—not bad service, just boring, comatose service.
Innovative Service Gifts
We checked into the ranger’s store to get our permit for a camp site. It was in the midst of a lush forest...especially the primitive area where we prefer to pitch our tent and build a camp fire. As we were leaving the store to find our site, the receptionist said,...
What if…? Kitchen vs. Cathedral
What if your customer’s experience was a window? Would it be like the windows in a typical kitchen or would it be innovative like the ones in a magnificence cathedral? My son and his fiancé elected to get married in a large antique church in mid-town Atlanta. Their...
What if…? “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” vs. “The Right Stuff”
One thing is for sure. In today’s tough economic times, if customers do not get a consistently great experience they will be Gone with the Wind!
What if…? Fan vs. Air Conditioner
But innovative service changes the emotion of customers from ho- hum to wow; from no memory to a super story they are eager to share.
What if…? Pond vs. River
River-like organizations are those that perpetually seek new, compelling ways to deliver service to their constantly changing customers.
What if…? Crow vs. Peacock
Peacock organizations select front-line employees who are passionate and inventive. They are forever searching for ways to make their contributions to customers ones experienced as lavish, novel and rich!
The Alchemy of Mentoring
The word “alchemy’ has its origin in ancient times when certain practitioners were able to turn common metals into precious metals, like gold and silver. But, the other part of alchemy was the creation of an elixir that, when drank at a certain time (say 5 o’clock),...
The Problem with Drive by Mentoring
I grew up on a farm. One of my chores in junior and senior high was milking a cow early morning and late afternoon. It was our family’s source for milk, butter and cheese. Cow milking today involves machines and computers. Cow milking—the old fashioned way—involved an...
Serving through the Lens of a Mentor
Kitchen floors in the 1950’s and ‘60’s were largely linoleum. I remembered getting chored with cleaning those floors with a harsh abrasive like Ajax or Comet and then waxing them. My scrubbing days ended, however, when Armstrong came out with the innovative Solarian...
Mentoring as a Texas Rig
“Give me a fish and I eat for a day; teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime.” It is a line we have heard most of our lives. And, really great fishing lessons...at least in Texas...would always include instruction on the famous Texas rig. Anglers with a hankering...
Conducting the Learning Symphony
The first violinist-conductor of a Johann Strauss concert literally leapt from his seat as the chamber orchestra performed the Champagne Waltz. It was if the composer himself was present--especially since this concert was occurring in the very hall where Strauss...
The Mentor as Diversitist
Bet you have not seen that “d” word before. But, think about it. A segregationist supports all vegetables served separately—no tossed salad. An abolitionist negatively argues for doing away with any type of separation—no vegetable section in the grocery store. But, a...
And the winner is…”And!”
Seventy-five percent of corporate mergers fail because of conflicts in leader relationships. Over 50% of marriages end in divorce, largely due to communications. Corporate and marriage counselors will tell you, “It’s not that the parties in the union were talking and...
The Mentor’s Message: Model Authenticity
“You are Interstate Hotels and Resorts,” said Vice President Jill Kallmeyer at her all-managers conference. “So take personally every encounter with every guest and every associate. Your genuine passion is what attracts guests to our brand.” The words come from a...