Last week I was interviewed for a customer service podcast. The host has authored several books on the topic and has an excellent reputation as an industry thought-leader. During the interview, I was asked for my definition of customer service, which I shared: Customer service is a voluntary act that
Macy’s is in the news – and it’s not good news. It was reported on Wednesday that Macy’s is closing 68 stores and cutting more than 10,000 jobs. In one related article, Mark Cohen, a professor at Columbia Business School, said that Macy’s – and its competitors in the bricks-and-mortar
Last week, three days before Christmas, I returned home to Denver from Manchester, NH after completing my final event of the year. For everyone who has ventured into an airport on December 22, you’re all too familiar with the long lines, delays, and various other inconveniences and setbacks that accompany
Last week, I read perhaps the best article that has come across my screen in 2016 on the topic of customer service: The Secret Lives of Hotel Doormen by Noam Scheiber. For me, it clarified the distinction between ordinary and extraordinary customer service. While reading the article—although it doesn’t appear
I recently received a review copy of The American Retail Value Proposition: Crafting Unique Experiences At Compelling Prices by Kyle B. Murray. Among other gems, the author presents the RFM (recency, frequency, monetary spend) model for determining customer value. Dr. Murray writes: “(O)ne of the best ways to predict future
Customer Service Week (Oct. 3-7) is approaching and, since I work in the field, I suppose I should contribute to the conversation. Let me begin by saying that celebrating the customer is a good thing—especially when you consider that, without customers, there wouldn’t be much else to celebrate. The issue
Earlier this month, I met Adele. Not the Adele you’re thinking of – I’m not sure how well she sings – but this Adele can sell! I had just left the Apple Store at Park Meadows Shopping Center in Lone Tree, Colorado when I approached a cluster of kiosks teeming
I will apologize in advance for the detailed account that follows of an Orbitz service failure. It’s my preference to avoid long-drawn-out accounts of customer service stories – whether chronicling heroic triumphs or abysmal failures. Let’s face it: we all have plenty of experience with both. And while the details
An article titled Some Absurd Airline Rules in the August 18, 2016 Wall Street Journal caught my attention. What stood out to me was that each of the six rules highlighted in the article increased airlines’ ancillary revenues at the expense of overall customer satisfaction. North America’s airlines charged nearly
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