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Advantages

The statistician W. Edwards Deming once said, “In God we trust; all others must bring data.” When I begin a project, the first thing I do is gather data to assess the current state of service quality. I do so by interviewing stakeholders such as managers, hourly employees, and, when

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I’m listening…

Years ago, I sat next to an executive on a flight home to Denver. When he learned that I worked for Marriott, he mentioned that he had achieved Marriott Rewards Platinum Elite status after spending more than 75 nights in Marriott hotels around the world the previous year. He began

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Obstacles

The statistician W. Edwards Deming once said, “In God we trust; all others must bring data.” When I begin a project, the first thing I do is gather data to assess the current state of service quality. I do so by interviewing stakeholders such as managers, hourly employees, and, when

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Your opinion matters

Is it me or do you find that merchants are constantly asking you to “take five minutes” and “tell us how we’re doing” by responding to a customer satisfaction survey? Sometimes these surveys appear in your email box following a purchase. Other times, hard copy surveys arrive in your mailbox

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Timely, Efficiently, Affordably. Assistly.

Last week I spent some time on the phone with Alyson from Assistly, Inc. During our call, she provided me with some background information about the company, its purpose, its clientele (which includes Twitter), and what’s coming next… Here’s a quick summary: Assistly is a hosted customer support platform for

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Pale ale for sale?

Earlier this year I stayed in a New York City hotel where I was scheduled to deliver a presentation on customer service. Shortly before my talk, I met the hotel’s beverage director who asked if I had any feedback for him pertaining to the hotel’s food and beverage outlets. I

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Most customer service is just fine

The next time you go out to eat, pay attention to the question you receive from your server or the hostess as you leave the restaurant. Most of the time, the question you will hear is this: “How was everything?” And I can even anticipate the likely response: “Fine.” A

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Keep service up in a down economy

My family and I recently dined out at a quick service Mexican grill. While I was providing my order to the prep person behind the counter, I observed the sales transaction of the customer who was ahead of me. At no point during the transaction did the cashier smile or

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Effective recognition is not pi in the sky!

I recall a Gallup statistic from a few years ago that 65% of American workers claim to have received no recognition in the workplace in the previous 12 months. If that’s true—as it apparently is for those workers—then ask yourself, “How might I be contributing to this perception by employees

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The Revelation Conversation

The Revelation Conversation is Here!