My wife and I just returned from a fabulous holiday. We were in Europe for 4 weeks. Unfortunately, there was one big hiccup that marred an otherwise wonderful time. The hiccup? My wife’s flight ticket from Munich to London was fouled up and her luggage got lost. As of this writing, it has been gone … Continue reading An airline, a lost bag, no communication, and a lost customer … a lesson for businesses everywhere.

My internet went out. Ugh! This meant calling my internet provider. Reluctantly, I picked up my phone and made the call, and, of course, got the maze of “press 1 to see your account balance, press 2 to call your mom, press 3, blah, blah, blah.” Finally, I heard what I needed, “press 5 because … Continue reading Why being your own customer might be the best thing you can do for your business.

To begin, I must apologize for the following rant, but it just had to be done. A customer orders food online. They are told it will be delivered in 30 minutes. The time comes and goes, no food. A call is placed to enquire as to its whereabouts. Since there is no way to contact … Continue reading One reason the CX movement is failing and what we can do about it.

Any organization trying to make gains these days aims to make experiences with the company as smooth as possible. Of course, it makes sense to keep customers as happy as possible. However, customers are not the only stakeholders in success. While they are the reason for what the business does, employees are critical to doing … Continue reading Keeping customers happy means keeping employees happy. Here are five practices to help.

Advertising essentially has one goal, to sell us something. To do this, it typically points out things we lack. It attempts to show us that we don’t have enough. If you’ve been kidnapped by that, go take a walk. Look around. Do you see friends and neighbors? Do you hear the birds? Do you feel … Continue reading Value is not stuff.

Have you ever been to dinner at someone’s house and they spent too much time cooking? What I mean is they were in the kitchen fretting over every little detail of the meal but neglected you. While guests want great food, they also want a great social experience. This is precisely what so many businesses … Continue reading Technical skill or hospitality. Do you have the balance right? If not, it’s not good.

The pot was boiling over, the timer was beeping away its alert that the main course needed to be removed from the oven, the table still needed setting, and people were arriving. Yet, through it all, she moved about with grace taking care of each challenge with a positive frame of mind. The party was … Continue reading Optimism. Is it the great-experience superpower?

What is good service? Put simply, it is when we are helped in a way that is low effort, enjoyable, and effective in getting us whatever it is we want or need. Given that, do you provide good service? How much effort is required to do business with you? How many hoops does a customer … Continue reading Do you deliver good service? Here’s how to find out.

Do you see service as a profit center or a cost center? If you said cost center, you are in the majority. However, you would also be on the side of wrong. Service is actually one of your biggest profit centers. As opposed to being what some see as a necessary evil that saps a … Continue reading Contrary to popular belief, service is a profit center. Here’s why.

What we do at home is what we do on the playground. “Culture.” It seems it is the big corporate buzzword these days. Companies are talking about it, defining it, having workshops to improve it, mentioning it in their marketing, and using it to recruit new employees. But what about those outside your company? How … Continue reading Why your culture matters to your customers.