I’m a skeptic. And I’m in my most skeptical state when I hear corporate buzzwords tied to company strategy at the beginning of every calendar year. Phrases such as, “paradigm shift” and “thinking outside the box” give me the chills. To EMC’s credit, use of the worst corporate jargon offenses were at a minimum during

In my last post, I wrote about an extraordinarily negative customer service experience. Today, let’s focus on the positive. Recently, Kelton Research surveyed 227 senior U.S.-based IT professionals and uncovered that almost seven in ten (68%) of those IT decision-makers believe that delivering good customer service is more important to their company than managing costs. In

Some service experiences are unforgettable, for better or for worse. Several years ago on a hot summer morning in July, I approached the front door to a southern Massachusetts moving franchise with a sense of optimism and a neatly folded reservation in hand. After all, my wife and I were only moving approximately 25 miles

Best Buy has taken some hits in the press lately. One of the most scathing articles came from a Forbes contributor, Larry Downes, who made the claim that the large electronics retailer is gradually going out of business. Among the criticisms were that Best Buy is not doing a good job managing the cross-channel experience

I’m the youngest of three siblings. While growing up in Connecticut, I learned a lot from my older brother and sister. They were great role models (most of the time), but after following their lead for a few years I became eager to do things without their support. At a young age, nothing was more

Service Excellence is not complete without strong branding and communication efforts. To accompany innovation and customer satisfaction initiatives, the story must resonate with the target audience. It sounds clear enough, but it’s remarkable how many times companies fail to heed this advice. The two areas where I have consistently witnessed missteps include Failure to understand

There were stacks of paper sitting on my desk, just waiting to be thrown out. I kept thinking that maybe I would need one of them for a call, for reference, or for an in-person meeting. But, if I was going to be honest with myself, I could throw out everything on my desk and

There have always been distinct differences in how businesses treat B2C vs. B2B audiences. From a marketing standpoint, connecting with a B2B audience is about building relationships and developing personal connections during a multi-step sales cycle. This starts with a series of activities and events intended to drive awareness and ends with a rational purchase

We all like to think our intuition and life experiences make us well-prepared to understand customer wants and needs. But can this confidence lead us to make faulty assumptions about the types of products and services that customers want and need? In my opinion, the answer is yes. In Francoise Tourniaire’s latest newsletter, she highlights

Ok, I have a confession to make. While relatively new to Twitter, I’m slowly but surely becoming addicted. It’s a more powerful form of information gathering than I initially realized. So, what’s the point? I mention this because, without Twitter, I would have missed important, real-time takeaways on service excellence from a recent keynote speech

For the past two quarters, my colleagues and I have studied trends in IT support services.  We have reviewed dozens of the latest research reports, conducted an exhaustive competitive analysis and interviewed several leading industry analysts and consultants.  One of the recommendations that came up repeatedly is to exercise caution when adding additional features to your