On Thursday, January 5th, CNBC aired a documentary entitled Customer (Dis)Service. I had hoped to blog about the documentary as it ran, but alas, the hotel I was staying in did not carry CNBC. Fortunately, inbound marketing consultant Ken Mueller gave me a real-time play by play of the show. He also did a brief […]

Any list of examples of customer service skills is bound to be incomplete. Customer service and customer experience management incorporate operational, technological, and interpersonal skills that are as diverse as they are numerous. However, identifying and developing core customer service skills — in hiring, in promotion, in restructuring — can be an incredible source of […]

Instead of a roundup looking back at the past year, I thought I would take a look forward in this final day of 2011. This blog will be changing a good bit in the coming year, and I wanted to talk briefly about the new direction. [UPDATE: As the redesign has already occurred and this […]

The original title of this post was Is Bad Customer Service the Norm? It is a catchy title — better than my current one — however, there is only one problem with it: It isn’t true. My original inspiration for the piece came from a January blog post by Harley Manning over at Forrester summarizing the […]

What is Customer Lifetime Value and Why Is It Important? Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) attempts to determine the economic value a customer brings over their “lifetime” with the business.  At the heart of understanding CLV lies the recognition that a customer does not represent a single transaction but a relationship that is far more valuable […]

The spirit of Thanksgiving is embodied in the name of the day. Somewhere among the football games, the super-caloric gorging, and the tryptophan-induced dozing, we all hopefully pause to reflect and to give thanks for the things we cherish in our lives. For most, this means reflections on family and friends, on health and happiness. […]

On occasion, we like to take a break from our regular content to highlight a worthy cause outside of our normal discussions of business and customer service. This Nonprofit Spotlight is dedicated to the Blue Key Campaign (link no longer active), which is a “U.S. based initiative (link no longer active) to channel the energy […]

Guest Poster: Laura Click It is my pleasure to introduce Laura Click, who has been kind enough to babysit this blog while I am away at a conference. Laura is founder and chief innovator at Blue Kite Marketing, a Nashville-based marketing and social media strategy firm that’s passionate about helping small businesses reach new heights. […]

In April, I had the distinct pleasure of seeing John DiJulius, one of my favorite customer experience thought leaders (link no longer active), speak at the Multi-Unit Franchise conference. To begin, if you ever have the opportunity to see John DiJulius speak — do it! He has a great message, and his presentation is simply […]