26th January 2011
We’ve all heard that speaking in public terrifies more people than death itself. In one survey, it didn’t even rank that far below torture! Ironically, we all communicate in some way, with someone almost every day – and most of us are born with the skills...
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26th January 2011
Despite online travel advisories and other warnings, recent research shows that travellers continue to be overbilled at hotels around the world. The hardest hit: The corporate traveller.
It’s nothing deliberate, of course, but human and computer error...
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26th January 2011
We do a lot of work in the hospitality industry and thought I’d share a couple of tidbits from things we’ve learned along the way.
I know, I know, when things go wrong in a hotel, they seem so much worse than the missteps that happen in “regular office...
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26th January 2011
Over the years we’ve worked with several hotel chains (and for a while, I was a Senior Exec with a private facility managed by Le Meridien). Based on feedback we’ve had from hoteliers (including front desk staff who get to hear about most of the mistakes)...
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24th August 2010
Surprisingly, you’ll find that money doesn’t always talk – or at least not the loudest. Money was # 8 on a list of 10. Input from over 700 companies showed us that employees are most likely to want to give that extra 10% or more when they feel they are an...
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24th August 2010
It is commonly accepted that well-conceived and executed, formal customer loyalty programs can increase retention rates as well as revenue and profitability per customer. Despite the expectation that over $2 billion will be spent worldwide on customer lo...
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24th August 2010
By taking a partial look at the evolution of customer loyalty programs, it is easy to see why so many rewards-based programs are not delivering what the customer really wants.
According to the Turkish tour guide who showed us around the ruins, the fir...
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24th August 2010
You might have already guessed from the headline that I had the “pleasure" of being insulted by a customer service rep... again. This time I brought it on myself. I called the company. The telephone company. I can already hear your groans. You know w...
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12th August 2010
Blue Ocean, Red Ocean. Why all the fuss? And how do we look at strategy development from a Blue Ocean perspective? And why do we even want to?
This may be old news for some, but I was recently asked about Blue Ocean Strategy, hence this post.
There'...
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12th August 2010
Many companies are great at planning most aspects of their business - from how to choose a new supplier, to how to develop a new product, to how to change the production line, to how to market the new gizmo once it's ready for market. Yet far too many or...
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12th August 2010
I'm often asked how we go about helping clients determine their best point five years out on the horizon.
Here are the steps we follow... and the ones I teach my MBA students, too.
1. Conduct a preliminary assessment of your company's internal str...
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12th August 2010
No matter how many preventative measures are taken, things go wrong in every company at some point. How your company responds in a crisis has a direct bearing on how quickly it will recover consumer confidence and sales.
Here is a process that many c...
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21st May 2006
We all know that good customer service is paramount to growing a business and increasing profitability. What many managers are failing to realize, however, is that rapid changes in technology have lead to equally rapid changes in the delivery of quality ...
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01st April 2006
It almost goes without saying that good customer service is essential to sustaining any business. No matter how wonderful a job you do of attracting new customers, you won't be profitable for long unless you have a solid customer retention strategy in pl...
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