I’d like to congratulate Soft Shoe for yet again winning the Gold Medal Service Award from Footwear Insights. I’ve had the privilege of serving Soft Shoe for a few years now. They take serving the employee, and what they call Customer Service Mode for customers, extremely seriously. Here’s a list of customer service advice from Gold Medal winners, with Soft …
Trolls in the back, and the heartless in the front
Some advice: If you are booked on a flight with me, and the flight goes through Charlotte, change your flight. But maybe two times, I have never flown through Charlotte in one day. My flight gets canceled, I miss the connection or–yesterday was a new one–I am taken off a plane about to depart because something is wrong and they …
When marketing matches culture
If you know what your culture is about, it’s much easier to know who you need to reach. Take Red Wing Shoes. The boot maker has a Wall of Honor where recipients’ boots are “enshrined” on a literal wall, their stories shared for the future. (Red Wing says the wall is “part monument, part museum, all respect.”) This particular honoree …
Your call center: customer experience ground zero
Call centers. In our day and age, they are objects of scorn. Customers needing help find that a soulless corporation hides behind the automatons answering the phones. Customers not wanting to be bothered get unwanted sales pitches at unwanted times. Who needs call centers! That’s the narrative, right? So yesterday I got a pleasant surprise at one of my clients. …
Japanese mechanics and retail automotive workers: culture differences
My podcast partner Mike Marshall shared this with me. Absolutely fascinated for those of us uninitiated: The same YouTube account has an earlier video of an office worker at an independent repair shop. I’d love to hear what caught your eye as you compare it to the American work environment. Any ideas to try out in your workplace? What I …
A checklist for how to find and recruit new hires
My current clients are in the automotive, retail and hospitality sectors. One thing they all have in common: needing to hire qualified people. (If this surprises you, I encourage you to read the news.) So here’s a creative idea from the automotive sector on recruiting an especially peculiar kind of qualified employee: technicians. (The statistic often shared is that five …
Podcast 77: ”The Great Resignation” has already begun … how will you respond?
A July 2021 survey found that 55 percent of working Americans are looking to change jobs. If you employ Americans … this podcast is for you. Mike and Mark share three key factors in retaining your workforce. We would love your questions and comments for future episodes: Email Mike and Mark. Listen here … subscribe on Spotify, Amazon or Apple … or …
Podcast 76: What does your brand promise?
The name of your organization–even your name–can raise or lower the value of anything connected to it. How do know if it’s valuable? And how do you increase that value? We would love your questions and comments for future episodes: Email Mike and Mark. Listen here … subscribe on Spotify or Apple … or view below.
Podcast 75: Anticipating desires: lessons from a Mexican resort
Well, somebody told Mark this story … Mike swears it wasn’t him. … But once upon a time in Mexico, a resort put on a customer experience master class for a family with young kids. (There’s a topless woman, but don’t let that throw you–we put it here to get attention.) We would love your questions and comments for …
Customer fits: What is the employee responsible for?
I, like you, have witnessed bad customer behavior during the pandemic. Just this week, I heard a 10-minute phone call where a customer threatened to bring a gun to my client’s establishment and perhaps some gang members. I, like you, have found myself saying, “I’m just going to control what I can control.” We can’t control rogue customers throwing fits. …