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Customer Experience Musts – Telling us what they want

Customers have a huge desire to tell us what they want but alas many entrepreneurs and business leaders are more interested in telling or selling than taking the time needed to really hear their customer.  Hold on now, am I saying that customers actually know what they want and are willing to tell us? MIT…

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Customer Experience – Is it Care or Speed?

Recently, I shared a failed service experience I had at a sandwich shop and as a result several people contacted me and offered up what I can best describe as “service horror stories.”  Rather than miring us down in those negative interactions, I thought I would simply do a series of quick blogs on what…

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Why having a heart for Military Veterans matters!

As we formally honor our country’s military veterans this week, Starbucks is set to hire 10,000 veterans and active duty spouses over the next five years. A classic win-win, this strategy enables Starbucks to capitalize on the unique skills sets of these highly trained individuals while helping to reduce the high rate of unemployment often…

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Challenging Awakeness – From Favorite to Former

It seems so trivial but it really is the “little things” that annoy consumers.  I was at a sandwich shop recently where I purchased a $7 roast beef sandwich.  After paying the cashier, a sandwich preparer advised me that they were out of roast beef and asked if I would like another option.  My secondary…

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Tweet-a-coffee? Mobilize the connection

In my latest book, Leading the Starbucks Way, one of the five business principles I delve into is titled “Mobilize the Connection.”  The quick version of the principle is that given our highly mobile society (and our growing need to have a smartphone at the ready) brands must not only build connections in face-to-face or…

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Meeting Customers – Your Road to Success

More than ever customers expect to have their needs met as soon as they ask. Actually, they expect those needs will be addressed even before they ask! In our instant gratification, “text message me,” “give me an app for that” world – winning leaders anticipate customers needs and don’t wait for customers to identify the…

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Is is loyalty or buying customers?

We all have those loyalty cards hanging from our key rings as we make our way to CVS, Starbucks, and anywhere else we can get a discount or two. As a consumer, we know that as long as we carry these pieces of plastic, bargains await us. Business owners assume we use these cards as…

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McGraw-Hill is Happy to Announce My Book Hits Bookstores this Week – Leading The Starbucks Way

    By Joseph Michelli, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Starbucks Experience “An accessible and practical guide to corporate success.” Publishers Weekly “Organizational consultant Michelli serves up a new helping of the recipe for business success he offered in The Starbucks Experience.” Kirkus Reviews   The international success of Starbucks begins with a…

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Courting, Dating, & Loving – A Customer Experience Journey?

Somewhere in our lifetime, most of us have run across Maslows’ hierarchical theory on human motivation (physiological, safety, belongingness and love, esteem, and self-actualization). It is within this framework that Maslow introduced the concepts of people asking Am I safe? before asking Am I loved? Chip Conley in his book Peak took a deep dive…

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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