Recent Posts and Musings
Resonance of Excellence
“That was excellent!”. “Whoa,talk about brilliant service!” “I can’t believe what I just experienced.” These are the phrases and sounds of what creates a compelling difference for business. They reflect the real, rich and resonating experiences in which a customer is...
Doing the work that matters
Focus on the projects that matter Focus on the projects that matter. This was a key learning I gained after reading a great book by Peter Cook (http://petercook.com/) titled “The new rules of management”. Some of the key take outs from this book included: Get...
Clarifying perspectives
What we can learn from frogs I've spent many a night taking groups out on night walks in the Australian bush. One of the activities included on these walks were frog surveys, which always proved fun because frogs are such tricky little buggers in how well they can...
How message helps with cut through
I believe a key element that can drive the delivery of positive experiences for customers is for all service personnel to be clear on the message they are communicating through their contact points. The majority of advice around the delivery of customer experiences is...
Great Customer Experiences are a partnership
What adds richness to our lives are partnerships. Wherever you look you'll find a partnership. As examples; you need two hands to clap and contribute to raucous applause - sure you can bang pots and hit tables and throw in a few high shrill whistles but the clean...
Immersive experiences to build a collaborative culture
Just came across the following article which details how Monash University ran an immersion course for PhD students enrolling in their EMBL Australia PhD course (EMBL - European Molecular Biology Laboratory). Students are heavily involved in organising this course,...
Customer service is not servancy
For this newsletter servancy refers to a practice where the business is a servant to the customer. It is the business practice of treating customers so value is delivered to the customer without consideration to the employees delivering that value. Whilst this might...
Stepping on to the customer experience stage
One of my jobs as a Ranger when working with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service was to put on a wombat suit to entertain our visitors at shows, festivals and in and around Park visitor areas. Invariably the suit was sweaty from the last person and the heat of...
The big radar dish of rich customer experiences
Imagine putting a big radar dish on your head and using this as a metaphor for the importance of listening when engaging with customers. It is through listening that you build rapport and can identify the unique needs of the customer. It is through listening that a...
Building your creative muscle through customer experiences
One of the things I love about being involved with the customer experience profession is the vast variety of perspectives you're presented with each and every day. And the opportunities to build and flex your creative muscle. Brian Uzzi and Shannon Dunlap recently...
Your next door competitor
A common challenge faced by local business is managing the threat of a 'similar store' opening 'just down the road'. Such challenges can become even more unnerving when there are real life examples all around us - for example, I've seen 3 suburban hardware stores go...
The value of moments
To motivate people we offer the promise of a future better to what they have now. The assumption being that if they're happy with the status quo they do not need motivating. Offering a better future is often the easy part - as an example, watch the number of people...