I recently read a blog post on the Change of Address Blog called, “Why Electric Companies Don’t Care About Customer Service.” It mirrored my own thoughts and the reason that I have been speaking on customer service and the customer experience for over 29 years. The article stated that, “The knowledge that you are required [...]

Harry Kitillya, Commissioner General of the Tanzania Revenue Authority (the US eqilivant of IRS), spent about a week in Minneapolis. My wife, Pat, and I were able to spend some quality time with a real leader. Harry is the most customer driven government official in Africa. He has passion, focus, and understands the [...]

I was recently asked to write an article for an online publication called the Call Center Times. Call centers, perhaps above all other industries, must strive to provide exceptional customer service because they only get a few minutes of non face-to-face interaction with the customer–who is often angry to begin with. Luckily, there are a [...]

The story goes…
“No good deed goes unpunished. That’s what Heidi Heise, a Subway sandwich employee in Canada, discovered after she gave a free Footlong to two neighbors whose apartment complex had just burned down, leaving them without food or money. Her good deed was caught on camera and the owner of the franchise immediately fired [...]

While talking with a friend recently about Interactive Voice Response systems— that endless maze of options that companies use in an attempt to direct callers to the appropriate department without having to pay an employee to actually answer the telephone—Ann made a confession.
“When I call my bank,” she said, “I wait for the option for [...]

I visited Baker’s Square in Brooklyn Park yesterday and received some of the best service that I’ve ever had at a chain restaurant. My waiter’s name was Josh. He called me, “Sir.” He brought my coffee immediately and gave me a glass of ice water, “In case the coffee makes me thirsty.” He briefed me [...]

“Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit.”—George Carlin
While that statement might have been true a few years ago, in the face of the dismal economy and the loss of millions of jobs throughout the country, employees today are willing to use every tool [...]

How would you feel if your mechanic drove 250 miles with a trailer hitched to his van to pick up your broken down vehicle and get it fixed… all for the price of gas? This is exactly what Bill Jaap, owner of Good Carma Inc., a Minneapolis Volkswagen and Audi repair shop, did for one [...]

It’s no surprise that “The Devil Wears Prada,” was a hit, both in book and film format. Anyone who has ever held a job has a story to tell about a boss who could probably rival Prada’s Miranda Priestly, aptly described as “the boss from hell.” The toll those bosses take on the people they [...]

When the economy is bad, competition heats up. Companies do everything they can to keep their customers, and employees do whatever they can to keep their jobs. Downsizing has become a survival tactic for companies, not only throughout the United States, but throughout the world, as well, which means no job is safe from the [...]