A question of ownership
It’s not the structure that’s important – it’s ownership Picture the scene: 1994, a late summer evening in a scruffy office block on the outskirts of Vienna. It is the…
No time for poetry? You’re missing a trick
Breaks – for poems – can raise your productivity World Poetry Day? The very thought fills you with foreboding, probably as a result of being forced to learn or critique…
Don’t waste your time going on a “CX Safari”
Spend time with your own experts - on the front line Of all the greatest myths in management, the idea that you can improve by going on an inspirational tour…
True agility trumps customer experience – here’s why
When a great customer experience isn’t the only answer A few weeks ago, I wrote a glowing account of my post-Christmas experience with bed supplier Warren Evans and, more recently,…
Closing the loop – listen to Yoda
For a really effective way to manage complaints profitably, you have to be prepared to learn I don’t often look to fictional characters for management advice, but if you’ve had…
Most strategies don’t work! Here’s how to have one that does
Most organisations have a strategy, and many devote some of the best and smartest brains in the organisation to developing and implementing it. Almost all of this falls short in…
It’s no joke: discourtesy hurts your business
Picture the scene. An 85-year-old woman walks into a pub on the outskirts of Chippenham, Wiltshire to check on a lunch booking she’d made to celebrate her husband’s 92nd birthday.…
The missed opportunity in complaints handling that might save your marriage!
Complaint handling departments mostly miss the opportunity to turn a dissatisfied customer into a raving fan. I recently talked about how critical it is to detect and, if possible, avert…
Closing the loop: the vital missing component in complaints handling
You need a strategic approach to managing complaints that focuses on customer outcomes as much as what went wrong. I recently described complaints as being an under-exploited goldmine of customer…
In search of a magic number? Try 150
Bear this number in mind when aligning your organisation around the customer. It’s become more than a cliché but people (including me) are still writing articles with a compelling number…