When Uber first came on the scene, it was a big hit with consumers and a disruptor to the taxi and rental car companies. I personally use them on nearly 100% of my business trips. Uber grew at a staggering pace until they got multiple bad headlines. Around that time, I became aware of…
I confess, I was eavesdropping on my plane seatmate’s PowerPoint for a minute or two and saw this quote: “Branding is out, Results are in!” I so wanted to applaud and interrupt him but he was dug in on his work. I don’t know if it was his original quote or from another source but…
Each time I fly, if I am in the airlines’ frequent flyer program, I receive a customer survey almost upon landing. Or maybe everyone gets it. I can guarantee you that no passenger feedback form is telling the airline they approve of “the new airline industry”. Customer feedback is useless to them, so why do…
It is a fact of life that your company, any company, is going to have complaints. It doesn’t make you bad people, it just means that a customer experience didn’t measure up as expected. It doesn’t surprise us that solving issues is often an important driver in a buying decision. Yet it does surprise us…
When it comes to making a buying decision, where does trust rate as a criterion? A recent Wall Street Journal interview with a couple of business consultants tried to address the question using the travails of United Airlines as an example of a company that has lost public trust. The downturn in business for United…
Do you feel commoditized? Are you fighting the price game every time you have a new opportunity? We see so many companies succumb to price pressure because they don’t have a relevant value proposition. Often they miss the opportunity to provide solid confidence building in the sales encounter. Nothing grabs the attention more of a…
Last blog post, I wrote about the disintegration of loyalty programs, specifically mentioning Delta and Marriott hotels. This is a trend happening across industries. When a company provides a diminishing return of rewards to loyal customers, shouldn’t that company be concerned with how they are perceived and how they deliver customer service? In other words,…
As a frequent business traveler, I can’t help notice the moves made by large companies in meeting the needs of their customers, or not. I have been an elite member of the Marriott Hotel chain for years. It affords small benefits but ones that their elite members have come to value. Besides speedier (sometimes) check-in,…
If you have been following our blogs and /or know our work through my books, you are aware that we are strong believers that you should provide customers with solid evidence that you can, with proof, deliver what they want. I don’t mean that you can deliver the widget or the service you sell,…
For years I have been telling stories of clients who had lots of good news but missed it completely because of their focus on bad news. The thing is this: Owners and the C- Suite folks tend to be problem solvers day in and day out. We spend a better part of our day focused…
