Differentiation

The Future of Customer Service: Human Intelligence (HI) or Artificial Intelligence (AI)

I have been slow to accept that, from a service perspective, humans will ever be replaced by computers.  I’ve suggested that customers will resist “robots” and I’ve based my thinking in part on the “uncanny valley” hypothesis which postulates that the more robots look like humans the less humans will feel comfortable with them. I…

View Post about The Future of Customer Service: Human Intelligence (HI) or Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Lessons for How to Swim in a Blue Ocean from the Girls Auto Clinic

Often entrepreneurs reach out to me to discuss “customer-centricity” and the likely viability of their innovative products or services. To give you a sense of some of the key filters I use to evaluate the probable success of various ideas presented to me, let me offer an example of a small business that I think…

View Post about Lessons for How to Swim in a Blue Ocean from the Girls Auto Clinic

Is Business a Game? Customer Experience Lessons from Gaming

Over the years, as a customer experience consultant, I’ve increasingly become a student of “game theory” and of the “gaming industry.” I sense I am not the only one. For example, Thomas J. Watson the founder of IBM is quoted as once saying that “business is a game.” As you likely know “game theory” is a branch of mathematics that postulates…

View Post about Is Business a Game? Customer Experience Lessons from Gaming

Customer Resolution 2017 – Perfect Experiences

I am proud to say that Horst Shultze, the founder of the modern-day Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, has been a mentor. One day, I was asking Horst about a client of mine that was struggling to engage customers. As I presented the challenge to Horst, I explained the efforts the company’s leaders had exerted to, “improve…

View Post about Customer Resolution 2017 – Perfect Experiences

It’s Not Easy Enough: Simplifying the Experience

If you are old like me, you will remember a time when there wasn’t an express checkout line at grocery stores. If you are somewhat younger, you might remember the days before self-checkout lanes were available. This generation of young people will likely tell future generations that they lived in an era when some people…

View Post about It’s Not Easy Enough: Simplifying the Experience

Connecting With The Need To Connect: Watching People Eat Online

In his 1943 paper, “A Theory of Human Motivation”, Abraham Maslow foreshadowed a key ingredient to modern customer experience design. In essence, once you are able to meet a customer’s basic or functional need…there are higher needs you can address to drive their loyalty with your brand. Assume for example, that you and a competitor…

View Post about Connecting With The Need To Connect: Watching People Eat Online

FREE RESOURCES

The Starbucks Experience: Leadership Tips eBook
Elevating Care in Healthcare: Lessons from the UCLA Health System eBook
How to Win Every Customer, Every Time, No Excuses! Article