Category Archives: customer loyalty

“Customer centric” is still mostly baloney

Posted on April 5, 2012 by

For all the talk of “putting the customer first” these days, many, if not most, companies really don’t. (Actually, the right priorities for any company are the ones delineated by Bill Hewlett- the founder of Hewlett and Packard.  They are: … Continue reading →

Posted in customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, customer service, retail, sales, Spending time with customers | Leave a comment

Why does everyone forget how to do surveys?

Posted on January 6, 2012 by

The third-party survey company, doing a quality survey for my health care provider (doctor’s office), just caught me at a weak moment and I agreed to answer their questions.  20 minutes later, I’m off the phone.  What could possibly be … Continue reading →

Posted in customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, Interviews, market research, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A relatively easy way to gain some customer loyalty

Posted on September 7, 2011 by

I wrote a couple times (first here) about the wonderful pit bull we adopted in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  He got from Louisiana to Massachusetts in an air conditioned trailer that New Balance provided to transport 40 dogs.  As … Continue reading →

Posted in communication, customer loyalty, promotion | Leave a comment

Are you reaping the dismal results that you sowed a couple years earlier?

Posted on September 6, 2011 by

The story: Labor Day night I placed an online order with L.L. Bean (which went flawlessly).  The next morning I woke up and decided to change the size of the item I had ordered.  Calling into Bean, the person who … Continue reading →

Posted in competitive advantage, customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, customer service, process management, retail | Leave a comment

Who knew? Doing good by your customers is sometimes a winning strategy!

Posted on October 30, 2010 by

One strategy is almost any industry is to provide really superior customer service.  There’s almost always some segment of the available market that isn’t terribly price-sensitive and values excellent service.  This strategy doesn’t need to preclude other, low-cost strategies, although … Continue reading →

Posted in customer loyalty, customer service, strategy | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A quick reminder about how not to make sales

Posted on October 30, 2010 by

I went to the post office the other day, and the line was so long that I left and planned to use FedEx or UPS instead.  The USPS seems to have a problem doing load balancing, a management technique that … Continue reading →

Posted in CMO, customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, customer service, retail, sales | Leave a comment

About that Staples Warranty

Posted on July 27, 2010 by

Well, I finally RTFM (or brochure – I have an excuse: I’m a guy; we don’t RFMs) and it turns out that you get your Warranty purchase price back, not in real (that is cash) money, but in a Staples … Continue reading →

Posted in customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, Pricing, retail | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

It’s the little things

Posted on July 26, 2010 by

It doesn’t take a lot to make a BIG impression in today’s mediocre service world. (Maybe that’s better than in the 1980s when Tom Peters said you could stand out in the crowd if you could raise your service to … Continue reading →

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Toyota and Apple:Two peas in a pod

Posted on July 17, 2010 by

Toyota and Apple have both been facing some bad publicity recently. Toyota for unintended acceleration and other issues with their cars, and Apple for the “death grip” issues around the iPhone 4. Both companies seem to have taken the same … Continue reading →

Posted in Automobile Industry, customer loyalty | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers…

Posted on July 1, 2010 by

is the title of a an article in the July-August 2010 HBR.  It is full of good advice for customer service centers.  Money quote (my paraphrase): “delighting customers doesn’t build loyalty; reducing the effort they must expend to solve a … Continue reading →

Posted in customer loyalty | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment