Thinking Ahead.

Are You Up for the Human/Tech Challenge?

I’m convinced that the new customer experience leadership challenge will be ... (drum roll please) ... integrating human and technology based service. I refer to this opportunity as the human/tech challenge . That challenge involves leveraging…

{Infographic} Lessons for How to Swim in a Blue Ocean from the Girls Auto Clinic

Lessons for How to Swim in a Blue Ocean from the Girls Auto Clinic

Often entrepreneurs reach out to me to discuss “customer-centricity” and the likely viability of their innovative products or services. To give you a sense of some of the key filters I use to evaluate the probable success of various ideas presented…

{Infographic} Is Business a Game? Customer Experience Lessons from Gaming

Is Business a Game? Customer Experience Lessons from Gaming

Over the years, as a customer experience consultant, I’ve increasingly become a student of “game theory” and of the “gaming industry.” I sense I am not the only one. For example, Thomas J. Watson the founder of IBM is quoted as once saying that…

{Infographic} Fine-tuning Your Service Expectations and Your Consistent Delivery of Service Behaviors

Fine-tuning Your Service Expectations and Your Consistent Delivery of Service Behaviors

We’ve all had it happen. As customers, we've encountered a service provider who unfortunately chose to attend to something of interest to them instead of attending to our needs. As a result of their self-preoccupation, we were left to feel like we…

Customer Experience Excellence – The Science and the Craft {Infographic}

Customer Experience Excellence – The Science and the Craft

no Every time I develop a customized customer service training tool for a client of mine, I caution that the tool is a “guidebook” for customer service behavior and that tool can fit every application. As such, a customer service toolkit is only as…

Customer Resolution 2017 - Perfect Experiences {Infographic}

Customer Resolution 2017 – Perfect Experiences

I am proud to say that Horst Shultze, the founder of the modern-day Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, has been a mentor. One day, I was asking Horst about a client of mine that was struggling to engage customers. As I presented the challenge to Horst, I…

Do's and Don'ts for a Human and Humane Holiday Experience {Infographic}

Do’s and Don’ts for a Human and Humane Holiday Experience

Over twenty-five years ago I used to speak about managing the stress of the holidays. Those speeches were loosely based on the book Unplug the Christmas Machine: A Complete Guide to Putting Love and Joy Back into the Season . In it the authors, Jo…

As A Speaker Don't Try To Be Purrficct {Guest Post by Bill Lampton, Ph.D.}

{This is a guest post from Bill Lampton, Ph.D.} Yes, I misspelled perfect because I wanted you to see that it’s OK to make a mistake. You still knew what I meant, didn’t you? Now the good news is that audiences will get what you mean and understand…

It’s Not Easy Enough: Simplifying the Experience

If you are old like me, you will remember a time when there wasn’t an express checkout line at grocery stores. If you are somewhat younger, you might remember the days before self-checkout lanes were available. This generation of young people will…

It's Not Easy Enough: Simplifying the Experience {Infographic}

Nailing the Numbers - Your Future Equals Your Customer {Infographic}

Nailing the Numbers – Your Future Equals Your Customer Experience

I’ll admit it, as a customer experience consultant I have a tendency to see improving customer experience as a cure for all business ills. As the saying goes, if you have a hammer everything looks like nails. Over time, I have come to concede that…

Legacy Schmegacy - What Will You Be Known For? {Infographic)

Legacy Schmegacy – What Will You Be Known For?

Political pundits recently have been opining about the likely legacy of various global political leaders including Fidel Castro and President Barack Obama. Certainly, the word legacy seems fitting for leaders who play on the world stage, but what…