Category: Articles
Over Empowering Employees — Common Managerial Mistake Series
Managers, influenced by the “employee empowerment” buzz of the late ‘90’s sometimes place too much emphasis on insisting that ALL employees exercise more power, discretion and decision-making in their jobs. The result can be the appearance of indecisiveness on the…
The Best Reason To Go To University…And It’s NOT About The Money
Take a look at the following list of jobs I’ve held during and after my stay in higher education institutions. Animator at half way house for those with mental problems (i.e. bipolar, schizophrenia) Research assistant on social psychology projects Teaching…
Writing Tips: How To Become A Consistent, Prolific Writer
Prolific and profit generating author/writer shares his writing strategies One of the challenges for many writers is how to write regularly while maintaining the quality of the writing, and that applies to both article writing, and writing a book. Most…
Never Ending Interviews: Survey Based Research On Customer Behavior and Use of Social Media Often Very Misleading
The really bad news about the “research” that informs us about the value of customer service and consumer behaviour. Q: You’ve commented that you believe the use of surveys in both customer service and social media is causing bad business decisions….
Never Ending Interviews: Shotgun Analysis of Customers Via Big Data As Likely To Mislead As Help
Much of our understanding of customer behavior is based on poor research Q: We hear a lot about “big data” as a tool to help individual companies understand their customers. What do you think? Robert: Companies can certainly access more information about…
Never Ending Interviews: The Three Different Worlds of Customer Service Perceptions — The Twain Shall Never Meet
View from the “top” explains why customer service tends to be so horrible even in 2024. Q: When I read online accounts of both poor and good customer service, I’m amazed at the diversity of views. It’s almost like people come…
Six Learning Points About Customer Experience — A Tale of Two Hotels
A customer speaks out on customer experience Since people vary so much in terms of what they see as positive customer experiences and its not possible to be all things to all people, it’s important to start by defining your…
Common Managerial Mistakes: Confusing Evaluation Forms With Performance Review Process
In most companies, managers are expected to complete forms or otherwise document what occurs during performance review meetings. We’ll explain why this expectation exists. But before we get to that, let’s discuss some issues about performance reviews and forms. Confusion…
Six Things You Need To Know About Social Media And Customer Service, and Angry Customers
Over the last few years there’s been so much talk about using social media for customer service, but, by and large it hasn’t been a great success, in part to do with limitations of the social context, and that a…
Dealing With Negative Customer Comments In Social Media: Priorize, Triage
You don’t have to respond to all negative customer comments made about you on social media. In fact, often it’s not worth responding, because the people who saw the initial complaint are unlikely to even see your response. This is…
Nonsense Numbers: $75 Billion Lost Due To Poor Customer Service….But Where Does It Go?
In an article entitled Businesses Lose $75 Billion Due To Poor Customer Service, appearing in Forbes and dated May 17, 2018, customer service “expert” Shep Hyken explains: NewVoiceMedia’s 2018 “Serial Switchers” report reveals that poor customer service is costing businesses more than…
