Blog

Expressing genuine interest pays off

There is a restaurant in my neighborhood named Wine Experience Café & World Cellar. This restaurant is unique in that two-thirds of the space is used as a bar area and dining room and the other third is used as a liquor and wine store. The owner, Eldon Larson, had

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Little efforts make BIG impressions!

Last week, I worked with the general manager of a Hampton Inn hotel who shared this story: Shannon, a front desk agent, had recently joked with a repeat guest (with whom she had a nice rapport) about aging. The guest was a bit self-deprecating about his own age and referred

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Customers are quite adept at learning their place

Earlier today, I stopped by one of those cookie specialty stores to pick up an order of one dozen cookies that had been decorated as pineapples. (In case you’re wondering, the pineapple serves as a symbol of hospitality and warm welcome.) As I’m preparing to pay, the clerk said, “So

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Trust is a two-way street

I met with a colleague this morning who shared a great story to underscore the importance of reinforcing trust with customers. Trust is a two-way street: customers have to trust the companies with whom they do business and companies have to trust the customers they serve. If customers don’t trust

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Why pleasant surprises are no gamble!

For my 40th birthday, my wife and I traveled to Las Vegas where we met up with several other couples to hang out by the pool, see a show, and play a little Blackjack. My wife had made reservations at Caesars Palace which, ironically, was also celebrating its 40th year

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The wine and food pairing puzzle

John Fischer, a Culinary Institute of America instructor, in his book At Your Service demystifies the wine and food pairing conundrum, enabling staff to confidently offer suggestions to their guests. Fischer writes, “The amount of knowledge required to be a wine expert is staggering, and impossible to bestow upon every

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Engage customers. Increase sales!

Research from a leading hotel company shows that a guest who is actively engaged with its brand spends 23 percent more money than one who is only moderately engaged. Actively engaged guests are defined as those guests who have a sense of well-being—confident and secure in their accommodations, feel as

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Unique knowledge drives more sales

Consider the job knowledge that is expected from a typical waiter at a fine dining restaurant. For instance, he or she might be expected to know the menu items well in terms of ingredients, sauces, substitutions—that sort of thing. The waiter would also be expected to know about aspects of

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Customer service is all aTwitter!

Earlier today, I broke down and established a Twitter profile and broadcast my first “tweet” pertaining to a book review on this website and just added another update about some customer service research I was doing on TripAdvisor.com. For a long time I asked myself, “Why would anyone be interested

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