Bank of America's CEO: Brave or naive?

by Colin Shaw — Founder & CEO, Beyond Philosophy

I have seen so many proclamations like the one Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America sent to his 270,000 employees recently stating they needed to improve…

Customer service will transform your business ... starting today

by Micah Solomon — president, four aces inc

Customer service–exceptional, consistent, customer-centered service–can transform your business more quickly than nearly any other advantage.

Stage, actors, script: Great theater and retail

by Chris Petersen — Owner, IMS

One only needs to peruse the retail headlines to see the wide ranging discussion on the importance of customer experience in retail. In IMS Retail University…

Giving shoppers what they don't know they want

by Jeff Weidauer — Vice President, Marketing & Strategy, Vestcom International, Inc.

The National Grocers Association and Supermarket Guru released some teaser facts from their Consumer Panel Survey that will be released at the annual…

To bundle or not to bundle?

by Dale Furtwengler — President, Furtwengler & Associates, P.C.

Business owners can’t seem to win. If they bundle their offerings, customers ask for itemization of the various components with the price of each clearly…

An amazing customer experience from TSA?

by Doug Fleener — President and Managing Partner, Dynamic Experiences Group, LLC

Last Friday I was in line for security at Logan airport. I noticed that there was only one agent checking IDs, so I figured this was going to be a long and…

When retail associates hold their head up

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

During a panel discussion this morning at the NRF 102nd Annual Convention & EXPO, the conversation turned to hiring and keeping employees that are willing…

The Retail Revival has begun!

by Doug Stephens — President, Retail Prophet Consulting

Did you just spell your customer's name wrong?

by Micah Solomon — president, four aces inc

"They spelled my name wrong again!" sings Loudon Wainwright III, the incomparable (if hard-to-spell) singer-songwriter.

Cookies and the key to success in retail

by Doug Stephens — President, Retail Prophet Consulting

For the holidays I took my friends, clients and business colleagues cookies. I bought them from a small coffee house and bakery in Toronto called Le Gourmand …

Four myths of the marketplace

by Harvey Mackay — Author, Mackay Mitchell

1. We don’t have any competition.

Autonomy vs. standards: in business, customer service and the customer experience

by Micah Solomon — president, four aces inc

As a business keynote speaker, I spend a lot of time speaking about the need for employee autonomy in customer service and business operations in general. And…

The one simple thing your retail associates should be doing, but probably aren't

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

As Dale Carnegie's sixth principle teaches us, the sound of a person's name is the sweetest and most important sound to that person. It is an immutable truth…

Why build a great customer experience if you have no competition?

by Micah Solomon — president, four aces inc

What if you didn’t have any competition? Would the customer experience you create even matter–if, for example, you ran a government agency or were otherwise…

The best perk of all: Fairness

by Bryan Pearson — President, LoyaltyOne

I remember, in the near past, when getting a safe in your hotel room was considered a perk that many of us didn’t even use. Today, that little extra costs a…

The waiting is the hardest part (for your customers)

by Micah Solomon — president, four aces inc

Timeliness is a critical part of creating a successful customer experience. As a business keynote speaker, I'm often heard calling on company and conference…

I have seen the future of retail and his name is Errick

by Jeff Weidauer — Vice President, Marketing & Strategy, Vestcom International, Inc.

Last week I was in California visiting family, but like most of us on "vacation" these days, I was still working in my subconscious. One of my goals while…

Like ketchup, but sweeter! The customer experience and customer taste

by Micah Solomon — president, four aces inc

My son and I were eating barbecue together recently. The restaurant in question is one of those excruciatingly cheerful, homogenized theme restaurants. Not my…

These Target training videos are a joke. I think.

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

We've all got that one family member who thinks he's hilarious, but he is not. Let's call him Uncle Kevin. At any family gathering, Uncle Kevin can be counted…

A customer service solution (soul-ution, actually)

by Micah Solomon — president, four aces inc

When I boarded the commuter ferry on Saturday, it seemed unusually crowded. A crew member explained: "We have a capacity crowd — about 2,500 souls — aboard…