Thinking Ahead.
Customer experience, loyalty, and the AI era.
A new post every week — drawn from Joseph's current research and the ideas shaping his presentations.
1139 posts in the archive
Earlier writing.
Page 52 of 57
- Apr 27, 2012
A swing and a miss - wait it's a home run?
Would you believe me if I told you that a company which experienced a data breach affecting twenty-four million customers was later determined to be one of America’s most highly rated on-line retailers? Well consider yourself told! The story is that…
- Apr 18, 2012
Should You Ask for Complaints? Yes, No, Maybe?
During a consulting visit with one of my clients, a senior level leader stated "we don't hear much negative from our customers." He then asked an interestingly odd question, "should we be asking for complaints?" Like most questions of this nature,…
- Apr 13, 2012
Giving Back - More than a Marketing Strategy
I'm fairly simple minded when it comes to business. I believe justice ultimately prevails and inevitably companies reap what they sow. So when people insert hidden fees, fail to be transparent in their pricing, or grab for more than what they…
- Apr 5, 2012
Service Excellence - A matter of Equality AND Inequality
While George Orwell's 1945 book Animal Farm was intended to be an allegorical critique of Stalinism, one of the commandments which evolves during the book's journey has always intrigued me from the perspective of client service and customer…
- Mar 30, 2012
Don't Check Your Text! Serve ME
Former Apple & Microsoft executive Linda Stone coined the term "continuous partial attention" to describe the growing phenomena whereby we split attention between multiple sources of interaction such as pulling out our iPhone to check a text message…
- Mar 22, 2012
Listen or Write the Obituary
In his outstanding blog post titled The Unexpected Demise of Great Brands , Peter Horan outlines the death or near death experiences of once mighty companies such as Kodak, Sears, Digital Equipment Corporation and Circuit City. Noting that these…
- Mar 16, 2012
Scoreboard: Company Interests 1 - Customer Needs 0
What a week! Amid a travel filled 5 days of consulting and speeches, I had the good fortune to speak at a conference for a large American Banking Association conference. The timing of my presentation could not have been better (or worse depending…
- Mar 10, 2012
Taking a Bold Stand for Service Excellence - How about you?
Raise your hand if you think service and convenience stores are opposing concepts. You can put your hand down now, since this is a blog and I can’t see you. My general impression has always been that convenience stores sell….well convenience and…
- Mar 2, 2012
Middle Child Customer Experience Syndrome
Ever since Sigmund Freud's time, psychologists like Alfred Adler have written about the role of birth order and personality. Subsequently, researchers have even defined a cluster of behaviors which they dub the "middle child syndrome." While I am…
- Feb 16, 2012
Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs
Recently while driving down the long peninsula that is Florida, I paid witness to a myriad of billboards, most of which featured restaurants promoting heaping food portions at attention-getting low prices. Enticing as many were, it was Cracker…
- Feb 6, 2012
Screw it up and WIN!
Here’s a reality check. Your business, as well as mine, is going to make mistakes – lots of them. Assuredly we are trying to limit those breakdowns; however, some of our customers wont be raving and may even be raging about a subset of experiences…
- Jan 16, 2012
Why Zappos will be fine despite the criminal privacy intrusion!
The 24 hour news cycle has already begun whirring. Headlines talk about "Zappos being zapped by hackers" and commentators are asking why a company known for customer service has closed down it's customer loyalty team phone lines to process customer…
- Nov 10, 2011
The Power of Story - Betabrand
I was backstage with Chris Lindland CEO of Betabrand recently at a Zappos All Hands meeting and I couldn't help but conclude that he may have best demonstrated the power of an "engaging story." In fact, I would dare to say that for awhile his entire…
- Nov 4, 2011
The Real Reason Your Team Doesn't Trust You
Today’s guest post is by Mike Figliuolo, the author of One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership . Here’s Mike: Your team doesn’t trust you. Honestly. They don’t. Trust is key to effective working relationships; yet,…
- Nov 3, 2011
Intention is Fine but Where's the Service?
You are going to have to indulge me for a moment because the following service breakdown story may initially seem like I'm venting but it is presented to highlights how "good service intentions" just don't cut it . For me things did not start off…
- Nov 2, 2011
Customer Experience Then and Now!
Be Polite and Kind to Your Customers I read the strangest things! Right now, I am finishing a short book by P.T. Barnum entitled " The Art of Money Getting: Golden Rules for Making Money. " I wasn't attracted to the book because I need to make money…
- Oct 26, 2011
You've been Faced at the Bathroom Blogfest 2011
Susan Abbott susanabbott Customer Experience Crossroads https://www.customercrossroads.com/customercrossroads/ Paul Anater Paul_Anater Kitchen and Residential Design https://www.kitchenandresidentialdesign.com Shannon Bilby ShannonBilby From the…
- Sep 29, 2011
Starbucks blocks electrical outlets in its cafes - What?
As you may have heard from the media, some Starbucks stores are blocking electrical outlets. Since I have been involved with the company and written The Starbucks Experience , I am often asked about decisions that affect Starbucks customers. For…
- Sep 23, 2011
Business partners and a FREE Zappos Gift
T0day, I was fortunate enough to get to speak to an audience regarding co-branding and business partnerships! To draw out core concepts, I asked the group the following questions and thought they might help you consider your essentials of…
- Sep 20, 2011
What's your favorite breakfast cereal?
I've watched Zappos twitter posters and Zappos bloggers effectively deploy questions like that one to engage their social media tribe. I was speaking at an event in Las Vegas today and heard a panelist offer one of the best distinctions between the…
Joseph Michelli
Bestselling author of twelve books on Starbucks, Ritz-Carlton, Mercedes-Benz, Zappos, Airbnb, UCLA Health, and One Medical. Top 5 Global CX Thought Leader for ten consecutive years.
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