Blog
Champagne Service
We were working with a client in Nicaragua. One evening we elected to skip the hotel grill and try the hotel’s upscale restaurant—Factory Steak and Lobster. We were in for a special treat. I ordered my usual Jack Daniels on the rocks. Now in every restaurant in...
Read Your Customer’s Mind
It all started at one of those traveling fairs...the ones that set up in the parking lot of a shopping center with a few rides and attractions. She boasted she could guess your age for a dollar. If she got it wrong, you got to pick out a stuffed toy. Here talent lay...
Putting the ‘C’ in B2B
Upholstered shaker style rocking chairs with matching ottomans are very tough to find. But, we found a pair at Weir’s Furniture in Dallas, Texas and bought them. Now, fast forward fifteen years later. We wanted another pair of these great chairs. A call to Weir’s...
Service as Pain Remover
A very gloomy Wall Street Journal on a very long flight left me with a very bad headache. And, I never get headaches! As soon as I exited the jet way at the San Francisco Airport, I headed for the nearest newsstand for some relief—Advil. The vendor was about to close...
Sign Your Service!
Warning! This is a proud granddaddy blog! At three, Cassie can write her name as you can plainly see! My granddaughter has always been a champion scribbler! Plus, she has two older sisters who can write their names! Not ever wanting to be last in any activity that...
You Make Me Want to be a Better Customer
Most great movies have one line worthy of frequent repeats—“Show me the money,” “Frankly, my dear…,” “Win one for the Gibber,” “Make my day,” “Greed is good,” the list goes on and on. One of our favorite movie lines came from As Good As It Gets, a 1997 movie directed...
Create Memory Bubbles
The last movie that starred Natalie Wood was the 1983 movie Brainstorm also starring Cliff Robertson and Christopher Walken. The gist of the movie was the creation of “the hat”--a helmet-like device that, when worn, could tape an exact experience the wearer was having...
Fast, Good or Cheap? Customers Want it All
My five-year old granddaughter Annabeth is drop dead cute! And, she is an aggressive soccer player. Anticipating her holiday visit along with her two sisters we bought two backyard soccer goals and a couple of soccer balls. The second morning of their visit she came...
What Can Lexus Teach Us About Service?
Our friend Shaun Smith, of Smith+co in London, shared with us his favorite Lexus story as an example. A BMW owner walked into a Lexus dealership and announced that he was considering changing automobile brands. He had seen an ad about Lexus’ legendary service. But...
Make it My Way or No Way
Customers start young wanting everything their way. A teddy bear is now Build-a-Bear workshop. The perennial Barbie doll has become accessorize-Barbie online. Even American Girl dolls now come with matching outfits for “mommy.” Want to decorate your new cell phone?...