UCLA Archives - Page 3 of 12 - Joseph Michelli

That Nonreplicable “Something Else”

We all know the saying: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” But, what does that actually mean for your company and the relationship you form with your customers? Well inevitably great business ideas will be duplicated, replicated and/or “borrowed.” The upside of this reality is that overall products and services are improving as more…

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Passion Drives Purchase

In my soon to be released book, Leading the Starbucks Way, I list “seven bold moves” Starbucks leaders identified to revitalize their business. These “moves” focused on leveraging strengths, exploring relevant innovation opportunities, and targeting process improvements. These seven objectives were to: 1. Be the undisputed coffee authority. 2. Engage and inspire partners. 3. Ignite…

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“Leading the Starbucks Way” – How they are doing it right & why YOU should follow

Starbucks has become one of the most successful businesses in the world. If you need proof – simply look to their record breaking earnings numbers released this week! The brand’s success isn’t only because of their triple vanilla latte (although that certainly hasn’t hurt the cause.) In fact, there is much more to the success…

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Guilty as Charged – Seeking Consistency

While I have never considered myself a social media expert – I do know something about the importance of consistent experiences. That said, on the social media front I would rather not get a report card. I am certain that in the comments section of a social media grade report I would see words scrawled…

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Finding your Customer Experience Core!

Age actually can be a good thing! In my youth, I wanted to be “all things to all people” or at least “most things to most people.” Slowly and sometimes painfully through my customer experience consulting career, I have aged (or as I like to call it – gained wisdom). Particularly, as it relates…

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The Couponing Experience – Are you overlooking it?

Are you a coupon clipper? How about your customers? What role do coupons play in customer experiences? Do they lead to commoditization or are they a component of interactive engagement? Enough with the questions lets look at the data on couponing. According to NCH (Marketing Services), the number of coupons distributed by consumer product goods…

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The Human Experience – Lessons from the ICU bedside

My vantage point on customer service and customer experience have certainly grown in the past 5 years. Much of that growth comes in the form of empathy gained from encountering complex healthcare delivery. In the past series of days, for example, I have run the all too familiar gauntlet of being with a close family…

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Get your Zappos Experience in time for Christmas!

Thank you for your patience with my less frequent blog posts. I have two bits of good news and then on to this weeks blog… 1) the first draft of my upcoming Starbucks book is done (working title The Starbucks Connection) freeing me up to return to blogging soon 2) a couple of bloggers have…

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Authenticity beats Trendy!

First a personal note… Please accept my apologies for not blogging more regularly. Every waking hour (that is not dedicated to consulting, speaking, or family) is being and will be spent writing my newest book about Starbucks. I hope the smoke will clear to blog more regularly in early 2013. On to a quick blog…

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Can you handle the truth about social media hype?

Do you remember Jack Nicholson’s character in the 1992 movie, A Few Good Men, Colonel Jessep, delivering that powerful line “You can’t handle the truth”? Well, I suspect for some of you today’s post will carry a similar challenge as it relates to a hidden truth about success and social media. That truth is brought…

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