All Features
Annette Franz
There’s a well-known quote by Henry Ford that goes like this, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” It’s fair to note that some don’t believe he actually said that, but let’s go with it.
Ford is often cited when naysayers tell us that customers don’t know…
Quality Transformation With David Schwinn
This month’s column results from my wife, Carole, asking me to “watch this.” This was a short video on her computer showing two young children brilliantly and inspirationally singing, “You Raise Me Up.” I was dumbstruck. Their song immediately took me to many places. I was reminded of the wisdom…
Annette Franz
Pundits and experts alike say that ensuring a good customer experience (CX) is everyone’s job. In fact, if you Google “customer experience is everyone’s job” or “customer service is everyone’s job,” you’ll find endless articles, blogs, and webinars with that very title.
It’s true. Technically, it…
Jeff Toister
You’re ready to send your team to customer service training. The big question is whether your team is ready. Chances are, they’re not.
A 2010 McKinsey & Co. survey revealed that approximately 75 percent of training programs failed to measurably improve business performance. A lack of…
Taran March @ Quality Digest
As a sort of character-building exercise, I recently opened an unsolicited email from my health insurance provider. I was intent on doing a quick purge of sham, spam, and flimflam, and I figured this one would be no different. But I also know I’m biased against health insurers, so I decided to set…
Annette Franz
Are you listening to your customers? Do you understand what they’re trying to achieve? Are you using what you learn to actually design a better experience for them?
I was thrilled to be interviewed by Leah Berry and to a be part of her 30 Experts in 30 Days series; she asked me questions about…
American Customer Satisfaction Index ACSI
Customer satisfaction with personal computers is down for a third straight year, according to new data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The ACSI Household Appliance and Electronics Report 2015 includes desktops, laptops, and tablet computers, as well as household appliances,…
Annette Franz
Think about the things that you’re doing to transform your organization and your customer experience. Are you doing busywork, or are you doing real work?
Today’s article is inspired by this quote from Thomas Edison:
“Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production…
Harry Hertz
Some of my friends commented that Harry the “Cheermudgeon” was too “mudgeonly” in my most recent Blogrige post. So I decided it was time to cheer. Here is a cheer to getting older. The topic came to me this past week, when I was given a senior-citizen discount at the supermarket without asking for…
Dick Wooden
Many organizations talk about understanding customers and their needs, but few truly understand what customers value most. As we approach the end of the year, it’s a good time to reflect back on this year’s customer experiences and consider the following aspects of understanding your customer.…
Nawal Mohsina
The difference between a good product and a great solution isn’t just the quality of the technology but how the solution is presented and marketed internally. We all have personal technology devices that we love. Whether it’s a Microsoft Surface, iPhone, or Bose noise-cancelling phone, users line…
Dick Wooden
Now let’s be real here and take a big-picture look at your company’s knowledge about its customers. For instance, when my firm reviews how a client uses its customer relationship management (CRM) system, invariably we find knowledge gaps in the operational processes it follows.
These gaps make it…
Ryan E. Day
‘Would you care to participate in a quick survey to help us serve you better?” I suppose many people enjoy filling out surveys—their chance to sound off and all that. Personally, it’s not my favorite part of any transaction. Ford’s recent Customer Clinic in Irvine, California, though, was a…
Annette Franz
Do you know the moments of truth for various tasks customers attempt to achieve with your organization? Before you can know or identify your moments of truth, you must first know what that means.
So, like I usually like to do, I'll start by defining the concept.
BusinessDictionary.com defines…
Annette Franz
In the world of customer experience, what’s the difference between outside-in and inside-out?
Inside-out thinking means your focus is on processes, systems, tools, and products that are designed and implemented based on internal thinking and intuition. The customer’s needs, jobs, and perspectives…
Annette Franz
One of the arguments against journey mapping I often hear is that it’s an exercise in futility. You map. You put it on the wall. Nothing changes. To that I answer, “You’re doing it all wrong.”
You map because you need to understand the customer experience; you know that you can’t transform…
Ryan E. Day
“We don’t have any binder full of best practices for you. You are it. If you don’t want to change the world—go home.” —Brett Wheatly of Ford Motor Co., to the first candidates for coaches of the fledgling Consumer Experience Movement (CEM) program
When Chris Hunsicker, potential coach to Ford…
Joan Mattson, Keri Dawson
Increasing product recalls, regulatory fines, and penalties have made product-safety compliance a top priority for many manufacturers. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) and other global and regional product-quality regulations have subjected consumer-product companies to…
American Customer Satisfaction Index ACSI
The national customer satisfaction benchmark improved during the fourth quarter of 2012, rising 0.5 percent to an American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) score of 76.3 on a scale of 0 to 100. Although most of the gain is due to improvements in the public sector—satisfaction rose for both…
Knowledge at Wharton
In a world of endless information sharing, consumers have become the product. Platforms such as Google, Facebook, Foursquare, and Twitter are the new factory floor, and online users who leave digital crumbs as they browse the web and tap into social networks generate data that can be bought and…
Michael Lowenstein
There is a strong recognition that customer service is especially important in the branded experience. Service is one of the few times that companies will personally interact with their customers. This interaction helps the company understand customers’ needs while, at the same time, it shapes…
Michael Lowenstein
The word “advocate” has French and Latin origins. It has multiple applications, including legal, political, social care, and marketplace. It is the marketplace applications where the business, academic marketing, and management consulting communities have focused. Essentially, advocacy can be…
Laurel Thoennes @ Quality Digest
“What makes a personal kanban any better than a to-do list?” asked Julie, crossing out a completed task on her “ta da!” list with exaggerated strokes.
“With personal kanban you visualize your work, it becomes tangible, you get kinesthetic feedback, it’s flexible, contextual, and it promotes…
Raissa Carey
As in any good relationship, open communication is vital and Toyota Motor Corp., which recently suspended production and sales of eight models suspected of having sticky accelerator pedal problems, now has the perfect chance to show the world how healthy a relationship it has with its customers…
Craig Cochran
Training is profoundly strategic. It’s a process aimed at improving the single most important resource in the organization: people. Nothing affects customer loyalty more than the behaviors and competencies of employees.
Training is the most effective way to communicate the correct behaviors and…
