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…
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…
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…
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…