Blog

Steve

Increase your customer service strength

I recently received a delivery of a weightlifting system by a local fitness equipment company. I met the delivery truck in my driveway and gave the foreman a quick orientation about the best door to use, location of the weight room containing the old universal weight machine that required dismantling

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Steve

The Curse of Knowledge Can Derail Innovation

I heard a story on the Manager Tools podcast that stuck with me. In the late ‘70s the chairman of Sony Corp., Akio Morita, noticed a lot of young people walking around carrying a boom box on their shoulder during a visit to New York City. He immediately thought to

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Steve

What is the real priority, CX programs or CX?

Customer experience (CX) is the product of any interaction between an organization and a customer. If you have a customer, then you have CX. Unfortunately, there is a tendency, when formalizing CX, to unwittingly overlook the customer (the very focus of CX efforts) while attention is directed toward journey mapping,

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Steve

What pandemic?

Over the holidays my wife and I dined at two steakhouses in the Denver area. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, we were not allowed to dine inside either restaurant. Instead, both restaurants had erected two 400’ sq outdoor tents with a seating capacity of 20 guests each. Both locations used exterior

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Steve

Tampering masks true performance

Last week, I placed an order for a case of wine that shipped via FedEx Home Delivery® on Nov. 25th. On Nov. 28th I received a text from FedEx informing me that my delivery was scheduled for the following day, Nov. 29th. The text stated that ID and signature would

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Steve

Support local restaurants during Covid-19

Between March and September of this year, sales at restaurants and bars plunged 27%, compared to the same period in 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And by April, according to the National Restaurant Association, more than 8 million restaurant employees had been laid off or furloughed. Experts anticipate

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Steve

Using research to interpret online reviews

A recent Wall Street Journal article provided a trove of insights into online consumer reviews based on academic research from Dartmouth, Harvard, and others. Some of the research validated what one might expect: that verified reviews have more credibility with consumers than anonymous reviews. But there were a few surprises

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Steve

Chat gone wrong

Imagine paying $216 per year for the privilege of receiving your monthly invoice at the correct address. In order to change the billing address on his account, CenturyLink chat reps led one customer on a 68-minute odyssey that would involve four reps, three hand-offs (including the dreaded escalation to a

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