Blog

Steve

Digitize to Personalize

Today’s blog post is the last in a series related to what I learned at the Agilysys Inspire User Conference in Las Vegas, March 18-20, 2024. I learned to digitize to personalize. Data-informed organizations better serve customers by tailoring offers, activities, and amenities based on shared preferences, past interactions, current

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Steve

Books reward readers (and listeners)

Having read or listened to hundreds of books across genres over the years, I believe readers can benefit from each new title they purchase. Here’s how: Books offer value. If you’re reading for pleasure, books can provide hours of entertainment as you follow characters through the twists and turns of

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Steve

Looking to improve customer experience? Sell more!

Last week, I received a report from a colleague, John Goodman, Vice Chairman of Customer Care Measurement & Consulting (CCMC) that was based on a 2021 Customer Delight Study conducted by CCMC. There was a section in the report titled Monetary Delighters that detailed the benefits of cross-selling to customers,

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Steve

Surprise and Delight is Not a Strategy

Businesses that employ techniques to “surprise and delight” customers in an attempt to distract them from noticing systemic flaws in value (for price paid) or product or service quality are misguided. To illustrate, there is a large plumbing and HVAC company in my area that has its technicians carry a

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Steve

An open letter to restaurateurs and servers

Last Saturday night, our family joined my in-laws for dinner out in Parker, Colorado* in celebration of my mother-in-law’s 75th birthday. When my wife made the 6:00pm reservation for eight, she mentioned that it was Dianne’s birthday. Atmosphere When we arrived, we were seated in a portion of the restaurant

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Assuage the pain

In May I read the 2017 Qualtrics Hotel Pain Index Study, made some notes, and had every intention of writing a June blog post in response to the study. In my defense, that was about the time that summer break began for our four children. So, without further ado… The

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“May I call you Richard?”

This is the sixth post in a series that will explore a set of questions I received from participants during a webinar on the topic of customer service. (I say “explore” rather than “answer” because I’ve discovered over the years that there is rarely a single right answer to these

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Aristotle was right

This is the third post in a series that will explore a set of questions I received from participants during a webinar on the topic of customer service. (I say “explore” rather than “answer” because I’ve discovered over the years that there is rarely a single right answer to these

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Don’t give it away!

In my previous blog, Pouring profits, I posed the question: “How have you observed businesses capitalizing on (or forfeiting) opportunities to capture revenue and increase profit by offering customers enhanced service experiences?” While the post received a fair number of clicks, there have been no responses to my question. Undeterred,

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