Chip Bell

Consultant, speaker, and author

Chip Bell has helped companies dramatically enhance their bottom lines and marketplace reputation through innovative customer-centric strategies. For the sixth year in a row, Global Gurus in 2020 ranked Bell as one of the top three keynote speakers in the world on customer service. Bell has authored 24 books; seven are international best sellers. His latest book, Inside Your Customer’s Imagination: 5 Secrets for Creating Breakthrough Products, Services, and Solutions (Berrett-Koehler, 2020), shows how co-creation partnerships enable you to tap into the treasure trove of ideas, ingenuity, and genius-in-the-raw within every customer.

Thu, 04/10/2025 - 12:02
Hardwire Learning Into Customer-Contact PerformanceCustomers gravitate toward organizations that proactively work to keep them informed
Tue, 09/12/2017 - 12:01
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…
Is Your Customer Intelligence a Crystal Ball or Just a Rearview Mirror?Find ways to gain real-time customer intelligence that yields insight and action
Mon, 07/24/2017 - 12:02
‘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…
How’s Your Service Scenography?Put your senses into service
Mon, 04/24/2017 - 12:02
Imagine a hotel proposing that the housekeeper put a goldfish in your guest room in a basketball-sized bowl filled with colorful rocks.  All they ask is that you give it a name so you can have “your” fish join you again on your next stay. Visualize…
Does Your Service Have a Preview and a Souvenir?Extend customer satisfaction before and after the encounter
Mon, 02/06/2017 - 12:01
When the circus ringmaster wails, “...and children of all ages,” he is speaking to me. I love the circus. When it came to my rural hometown when I was a boy, it was an all-consuming experience that embedded “circus” in my heart before it appeared…
Color Your Service PurpleAdorn customers in the hue of nobility
Tue, 12/13/2016 - 18:50
It started out as a lackluster taxi ride from the airport to the hotel. But it turned regal and elegant the second I hailed the next taxi as I exited Charlotte Douglas Airport. The Crown Cab that pulled up was shiny and spotless. When the taxi…
Put a Surprise Inside: the Cracker Jack PrincipleFoster a spirit that customers can’t wait to narrate
Tue, 11/15/2016 - 17:42
We bought a new house in a real nice neighborhood. The house was perfect except for one important feature—it came with a yard! I do not like yard work, and my wife does not like yard work. I travel all the time, and she works long hours. One…
Welcome to Innovating ServiceA monthly column dedicated to the quest of being remarkable
Mon, 09/26/2016 - 16:47
Francie Johnsen is my very favorite pharmacist. When the petite, redheaded bundle of energy first came to work at the Eckerd Pharmacy (now CVS) near my home, she encountered a store spirit painted plain vanilla. Employees were creating a completely…
The Sounds of Great QualityFor innovative service, pump up the volume
Thu, 02/05/2015 - 00:00
Disclaimer: I love John Coltrane, Billie Holliday, and Count Basie. Great jazz, to me, ranks right up there with Einstein’s theory of relativity and Newton’s laws of motion in terms of insightful genius. Smooth jazz with a glass of wine and a…
The Birth of QualityBorn from the influence of another
Thu, 05/30/2013 - 10:32
My granddaughter recently asked the inevitable birds-and-bees question: “I know a baby comes from inside the Mommy’s stomach, but how did the baby get there in the first place?” I deflected the question with, “That’s a great question. Why don’t you…
Elegantly Adaptive ServiceAs in nature, those who adapt, flourish.
Mon, 03/15/2010 - 06:00
Early one morning I was in my side yard and walked up on a huge elaborate spider web complete with its designer-tenant. As I approached the artwork, the spider began to vibrate the web sending glistening dewdrops everywhere. The next morning the…