Blog

Steve

“Snap out of it!”

Have you ever heard someone say, “They don’t pay me enough to do this job”? If I had a captive audience with an employee who expressed this sentiment, I would suggest that until his disposition and performance (e.g., customer service quality) improves, he’s not going to be qualified – or

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Ignoring customers is bad for business

Earlier this month my daughter, Kennedy, brought her Bearpaw boot to me and pointed out that one of the buttons (“toggles”) used to secure the elastic laces had cracked. I took a couple of photos, located Bearpaw’s Twitter account, and posted the following tweet on April 5, 2017: @bearpawshoes How do

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The power of the frontline

My family and I stopped by the mall last week to pick up some last-minute items for my 13-year-old’s summer camp in New Mexico. We were tight on time as my wife had called ahead to add our name to the list at Yard House, where the hostess predicted that

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Customer feedback: a gift that keeps on giving

A study by Maritz Research and Evolve24 revealed that of 1,298 Twitter complaints, only 29 percent were replied to by the companies in question. Yesterday, during a phone interview, I was asked, “Why do you think company representatives choose to ignore feedback from customers – whether through Twitter, Facebook, or

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When it comes to social customer service, most companies are hacks

Henry David Thoreau observed: “For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, there is one striking at the root.” I thought about how this quote applies to many companies’ social media strategy. These companies are breathlessly “hacking at the leaves” of customer acquisition with their social media strategies rather

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Go the extra mile—or at least the extra 20 feet

Over Memorial Day weekend, I brought my son to a two-day basketball camp in Lakewood, CO. The first day, we stopped by an independent coffee shop (flanked to the north and south by Starbucks) where I ordered a double espresso in a ceramic cup for dine-in. Cooper and I then

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Exceptional customer service is not complicated

I recently read through the American Express 2012 Global Customer Service Barometer research report prepared by Echo Research and found many of its conclusions to be rather predictable: Consumers think businesses are paying less attention to providing good customer service Consumers will spend more with companies that provide excellent service

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No fear

I recently discovered that at least one employee at my local supermarket has no fear of consequences for his behavior at work. The King Soopers employee who bagged my two gallons of milk and bottle of Mr. Bubble (don’t judge me…) said, “Damn! I’d need this whole bottle for my

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Opportunity is knocking

It is widely acknowledged that the number one reason customers quit doing business with a company is due to perceived indifference towards them as customers. When I ask audiences to describe what it feels like to be treated indifferently, I receive responses such as, “I feel unimportant” and “I feel

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