All Features
Bill Kalmar
If you were born prior to the 1950s, you may remember a sitcom filmed in black and white about two New York cops and their exploits in the city. As they pursued criminals and responded to various neighborhood incidents, there was always the prescribed call on their radio: “Car 54, where are you?”…
Annette Franz
There’s a problem with journey maps? Well, not with the maps themselves but with how people talk about them.
I love attending webinars and reading articles about journey mapping because I’m always curious about how others talk about them, what their approaches are, and what outcomes they’ve…
Mike Richman
Our most recent episode of QDL from Friday, Sept. 29, 2017. featured news, technology, and two great interviews. Let’s have a closer look:
“Domestic Cars Fail to Keep Up With International Competition”
The most recent American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) survey took a look at people’s…
Patricia Morrill
Do all employees in healthcare understand how their jobs link to patients in some way? If they do, then they are more likely to know the importance of service excellence.
Does every leader, physician, and employee know the statistic that preventable medical errors are the third leading cause of…
American Customer Satisfaction Index ACSI
Customer satisfaction with automobiles and light vehicles slips 1.2 percent to a score of 81 on the American Customer Satisfaction Index’s (ACSI) scale of 0 to 100. A year ago, the industry improved driver satisfaction, and sales were at record highs. This year, demand seems somewhat saturated,…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
Our Sept. 22, 2017, episode of QDL was decidely techie, covering artifical intelligence, the internet of things, Manufacturing Day, and a cool color-matching tool that uses your smart phone.
Manufacturing Day preview
There is a lot happening on Manufacturing Day, which falls on Oct. 6 this year,…
Joshua Fairfield
Internet-enabled devices are so common, and so vulnerable, that hackers recently broke into a casino through its fish tank. The tank had internet-connected sensors measuring its temperature and cleanliness. The hackers got into the fish tank’s sensors and then to the computer used to control them…
Annette Franz
I recently saw an article with an image that included a quote from Antonio Banderas: “Expectation is the mother of all frustration.”
Honestly, this is true in life, in all relationships. Think about it for a second: Aren’t relationships much easier and much more relaxed when you have no…
Sangeet Paul Choudary
User-centric firms should identify and track the core actions that can make or break their businesses.
Traditionally, executives have used standard metrics, such as cash flow, inventory turns, and operating income, to get a broad sense of the health of their firm. However, the game has changed…
Chip Bell
What if you were required to fill out an online form if you wanted the phone number or address of an enterprise with which you wanted to do business? Let’s say you were driving to a meeting at their location and you needed to contact someone to let them know you were unavoidably detained. You…
Mike Richman
QDL from Fri., Sept. 15, 2017, demonstrated that everywhere you look, you’ll find the positive effect of better quality. Here’s what we chatted about:
““U.S. Business Sectors Gain or Hold Steady in Public Esteem”
According to a recent Gallup survey, U.S. citizens’ outlook on a number of industries…
Michael Lee Stallard
Costco Wholesale moved in front of Google to earn the title of America’s best large employer this year. To determine America’s best employer each year, Statista and Forbes survey 30,000 workers at U.S. organizations, asking them questions about their work experience. Costco has consistently…
Chip Bell
A reputable B2B company recently received feedback indicating widespread customer concern it was not helping its customers remain on the cutting edge of their own industries. The company was so focused on trying to sell that it lost sight of helping its customers stay informed about their new…
Mike Richman
On Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, QDL included news about the disaster in Texas and no apocalypse in retail, an interview covering a different approach to failure modes and effects analyses, a feature article on consumer views about for-profit social-benefit enterprises, and a great new Tech Corner demo.…
Thomas R. Cutler
Flawless order fulfillment from a distribution center or warehouse to the customer’s door is the neglected leg of the supply chain. Ironically, without careful attention to the last mile, e-commerce customers are disappointed with the quality, accuracy, and condition of the products being…
Dirk Dusharme @ Quality Digest
Our August 11, 2017, episode of QDL looked at the role of technology in after-market service, stairs that help you up, Fidget Cubes, and more.
“Climbing Stairs Just Got Easier With Energy-Recycling Steps”
These stairs actually help you go up.
“The Curious Case of the Fidget Cube”
How a product…
Chip Bell
‘How ya gonna keep ’em down on the farm after they’ve seen Paree? How ya gonna keep ’em away from Broadway, jazzin’ around and paintin’ the town?” This 1914 song by Andrew Bird was a hit as soldiers returned home from World War I. The song captured the concern of farmers whose sons left their…
Gary Brooks
With the durable goods markets in flux—new orders rose 0.7 percent in March 2017, after declining as low as 4.7 percent just a few months prior—manufacturers are seeking alternate sources of revenue and profit. After-sales service, or the service delivered after the initial sale of a new product,…
Ruth P. Stevens
As marketing advances, most professionals are well aware by now of the importance of retention and reactivation in optimizing the value of the customer base. The facts are clear: We know that it costs far less to reactivate a dormant customer than to acquire an entirely new one; we know that…
Annette Franz
What motivates you to go to work every morning? What drives you to do good work every day? What motivates you to want to work for your employer every day? What are the things that your manager and your executives do that encourage you to work hard for them every day?
What motivates your staff? Do…
Harry Hertz
The title to this column probably has you thinking about some life-changing transition or a big vacation to refresh, or maybe a new exercise regimen. If that is the case, I am sorry to disappoint you.
I’m actually about those renewal reminders for annual donations you make to a charity or to…
Mark Lee Hunter, Luk Van Wassenhove, Maria Besiou
The digital revolution is transforming the relationship between consumers and companies. Nearly all business functions are feeling the effects, but conventional marketing sits squarely on the fault lines of disruption. Brand-authorized messages increasingly can’t compete with online customer…
American Customer Satisfaction Index ACSI
Customer satisfaction with subscription television is down 1.5 percent to a score of 64 (on a 1–100 scale), tied with internet service providers for last place among 43 industries tracked by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). New ACSI results show that wireless service is the only…
Ryan E. Day
I remember my first trip to Michigan in 2012. I was covering the Ford Motor Co.’s annual Trend Conference and had the opportunity to meet Alan Mulally, who gave a compelling presentation explaining the vision, strategy, and implementation of the One Ford plan. I was impressed more with the man…
Rob Mitchum
People have touted the potential of big data and computation in medicine for what feels like decades, promising more effective and personalized treatments, new research discoveries, and smarter clinical predictions. But only recently have these technologies made it to the clinic, where they can…
