The objective in establishing Concierge Customer Service (CCS) is to deliver a differentiated, distinct, exceptional customer experience to your most profitable customers— and really good service to all customers—by giving customers more. In fact, the elements of Concierge Customer Service can be broken down as just that -- M.O.R.E.: mindset, ownership, referability, and experience. It [...]
The vital link between employee attitudes and customer satisfaction is supported by a large body of research—and this research shows the benefits can flow all the way to your bottom line. Let's look at the research data: Harvard Business Review reports: “companies with highly engaged people outperform firms with the most disengaged folks—by 54% in [...]
One of the byproducts of the increase in customer-centric companies has been the expansion of the Chief Customer Officer. In 2003, fewer than twenty companies in the world employed a Chief Customer Officer (CCO), but by 2015 more than 1 in 10 Fortune 500 companies and over 1 in 5 Fortune 100 companies had instituted [...]
In this age of uncertainty, one thing remains certain: Things are as tough and confusing for your customers as they are for you. Like you, they’re looking for an edge. They’re looking for a way to make things easier, to cut through the clutter, to do their jobs and stay in business, and maybe even [...]
The art and science of customer service have become increasingly rare in American commerce. Any one of us can recount stories of poor—sometimes outrageously poor—customer service that not only left us frustrated but also engendered resentment toward the company that appeared to care so little about the customers who generate its profits. Let’s review [...]
The world has been changing for distributors, but the world has always been shifting and changing for businesses. Here's one example of past disruption and change, and how it impacted business, and how to sometimes see the "opportunity of change." Baron Rothschild, scion of the renowned banking family, gave the famously-macabre admonition to “buy when [...]
Where all this began for me: Long before I earned a PhD or began working with wholesale distributors, I learned a lot about the power of connecting with customers growing up in a tiny town in rural North Carolina. My father, a country banker in the hamlet of Sunbury (in Gates County, North Carolina), saw [...]
Does Any of This Sound Like Your Company? You’re feeling margin pressures, You’re suffering under escalating personnel costs, You’re watching your best customers defect to competitors whom you know aren’t as good as your company is, You feel your business model isn’t as relevant to the market as it was 10-20 years ago, or Your [...]