Blog

Customer Service Week is like 5-hour ENERGY

Have you seen the 5-hour ENERGY® television commercials? They depict men and women (usually at work) who can’t muster the energy to finish their workdays without a shot of 5-hour ENERGY. This is a sad testament to employee engagement, the quality of work environments, and employees’ physical health due to

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Poor service. Sound familiar?

Recently, I was approached by an employee of a community bank that has a branch inside my local Albertsons supermarket. He decided that it would be a good idea to use the 30-roll package of Charmin toilet tissue visible in my cart as a conversation starter, saying, “I can see

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Unbridled Customer Service

Every now and then, a dramatic story of personal service and sacrifice comes along to restore one’s faith in humanity. This past weekend, one such story unfolded at my local Red Robin Gourmet Burgers restaurant. On Saturday, a family of four dined at Red Robin before heading to a nearby

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The Goodbye Song

While at home singing his preschool’s goodbye song, my 4-year-old son became frustrated that he could not remember the second verse of the song. He would sing, “Adios, adios. It’s time to say goodbye. Adios, adios…” and then pause as he struggled to recall the next line of the song.

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Allstate’s Safe Driver Bonus

I have three policies with Allstate Insurance, including an auto policy. One of the attractive features of Allstate’s auto policy is that it offers a “Safe Driver Bonus” that equates to a 5 percent rebate for every six-month period its policyholders do not file a claim. While parked at my

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The most important retail space

Earlier today, I stopped by Office Depot to pick up some office supplies. Items in hand, I approached the cash registers at the front of the store to check out. There were two customers in line ahead of me. The first customer, after the cashier began entering her order, realized

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Self-service does not mean no service

There’s a popular perception among businesses that providing self-service alternatives to consumers relieves them of the responsibility to deliver customer service. Perhaps they assume that because they’re offering customers greater convenience, more control over the transaction, and increased value, it’s unnecessary to focus on customer service. Take, for example, self-service

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Boss watchers

Most of us acknowledge the importance of supervisors modeling the behaviors expected from frontline hourly-paid employees. Intuitively, this just makes sense and is reinforced with platitudes such as “Actions speak louder than words” and “Walk the talk!” Even so, this leadership principle and management expectation is often neglected. Consider this

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Bright people, dim processes

The driver’s side rear turn signal bulb went out on my Expedition last week, so I stopped by the Ford dealership this morning to have it replaced. I pulled into the service bay, parked, and went inside to the service counter. There, I met up with a service manager who,

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The Revelation Conversation

The Revelation Conversation is Here!