When I received my first management position with Marriott in 1992, I worked for a general manager named Mark Conklin. Although Mark (as he preferred to be called) oversaw more than two hundred employees, each employee received a hand-written card from him in the mail to honor the anniversary of
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
Like many who read this blog, I am a student of customer service. I’m interested in books on the subject, discussing the topic with others, speaking and writing about it and, of course, critiquing the service I receive as a customer. One of the questions that’s often discussed and debated
Last week, I worked in Freeport on the island of Grand Bahama for a client in the insurance industry. Over lunch she questioned whether or not the essence of an employee’s job could be captured in his job function. My reply was that job essence and job function were separate
Last Wednesday, I learned that a friend of mine was traveling from California to Marriott’s Marco Island Florida Resort & Spa to attend a coaching conference. Christopher and I both invested the early part of our careers working for Marriott and, knowing that he would not call ahead to request
Yesterday morning, I brought two of my children, ages seven and five, to school. As I approached the drop-off point at the very top of a steep hill, I noticed the car in front of me slide just a bit on the black ice covering the road. When I tested
I recently received a jury summons in the mail and my first reaction was, “Really? I am way too busy to deal with this now.” Then, in a moment of sobriety, I recognized that the protection of our rights and liberties as Americans is preserved by the American system of
Over the years, I’ve had conversations with hundreds of frontline employees in the service industry. All of these employees were passionate about something but, more often than not, their passion had little to do with their job roles. Many described their jobs as boring, routine, and monotonous. These conversations have
I met a colleague at ink! Coffee in Denver last week. I appreciate great coffee as I’ve blogged about before and was really looking forward to trying ink!’s. My first impression was positive as the barista welcomed me and briefly shared ink! Coffee’s philosophy regarding product quality and freshness. After
The Revelation Conversation is Here!
