What drives growth and profitability in a service business? Highly satisfied customers. And to keep those customers profitable, you need to manage all the aspects of your operation that affect customer satisfaction--what the authors call the...
Let's just cut to the chase, shall we? Business travel sucks. It's always been difficult. Today it's horrendous. In the next few years it could be unbearable as airlines consolidate routes and pile on fees. So veteran business traveler Marshall Goldsmith checks in to Harvard Business with...
Managers who manage their time well not only get more accomplished, but they also set the tone for employees to be more proactive about their own schedules. Melissa Raffoni, author of the Harvard Business Review article "Are You Spending Your Time the Right Way?", shares techniques that will help you...
This is a little weekend item about Maui Jim, the sunglass maker. I've had Maui Jims for several years now, but I continue to be blown away by their commitment to customer service and how it makes me feel about their brand. They're not cheap (mine cost about $200 and...
Do you work in a building designed to keep you energized, more productive, and that tells your company mission to all staff and visitors within a few steps of entering? I suspect most of us work in Dilbert's Cubicle World. So it's intriguing to see the HQ...
After a year of disappointing scores, the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index put together by the University of Michigan saw a modest 0.4 percent jump on the index's 100 point scale to 75.2. WINNERS. Scoring well were hotels such as Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton with scores of...
Ever realize just how much savvy information is available in your organization? Ever wonder just how far you could take your company as CEO if you could only tap it? The latest McKinsey Quarterly requires subscription has a useful primer and group discussion on a practice known...
When it comes to work life, Stewart Friedman says, "Balance is the wrong metaphor because it implies trade-offs." To bring more passion to their work, managers need to integrate work, home, community, and self. Friedman discusses how to truly integrate those elements through introspection, discussion, and experimentation. ...
National Geographic has a good, ultimately hard-headed look at biomimetics -- using nature as a model for product design. Velcro would be the best example (it was invented in 1948 by copying cockleburrs). The article, Design by Nature, starts out breathy, looking at some of the...
Winplus is a global company that produces innovative auto lifestyle products. Dan Sheehan, the company's CEO, cites various sources of inspiration- from tracking trends in the auto marketplace to sampling products during his travels overseas. Sheehan discusses his unique approach to product development and provides perspective on the after-market...
Zack Schuler is the CEO and founder of CalNet Technologies, an IT solutions firm that services small and medium-sized businesses. Schuler discusses his company's unique cultural emphasis on responsiveness and customer service, which has been achieved in large part as a result of his innovative employee award programs.
Inventor Paul Metzger is co-founder of Maker Enterprises, a product development think tank responsible for creating innovative new retail items. Metzger describes his business model which encompasses every step of product development from concept to marketing.
Hillary Mendelsohn the founder of thepurplebook, an essential resource for online shoppers. She is a leading Internet consumer watchdog, recommending businesses that offer superior product quality and customer satisfaction. Mendelsohn talks about the importance of being an informed consumer and discusses her company's role in making online businesses more accountable.
Companies that try to go both green and mainstream could be setting themselves up for failure. Green consumers want to solve the planet's needs before their own, but mainstream consumers care more about their personal needs. Steve Bishop explains how consumer behavior actually has a bigger impact than product design,...
Shop.org's Strategy & Information Forum is going on this week in Orlando. The theme this year: Web 2.0 and it's implications for retailing. Neil Clemmons from the Experience Matters blog is attending and picked up a simple but powerful insight from keynote speaker, Andy Sernovitz, one of the founders of...
Ever wanted to bootstrap a business? In just a few short years, Lonnie Moore and partner Mike Malin have taken The Dolce Group from one small club in Hollywood to dozens of restaurants in nearly as many cities, including Atlanta, D.C., Dallas and Reno. Here, Moore talks about finding investment,...
Product Marketing = Lost Sales.Great seriesGeoffrey,Your recent posts on the myth of "solutions" and the fact that companies want a "sales rep" to manage a business function for them not sell them a product are right on target. I am a veteran of twenty years of selling hardware, software, and...
Over the last two weeks, I've been talking about Manager-to-Manager (M2M) sales in B2B environments, and how real decision-makers want you to be responsible for results and consequently have no interest in products, even if repackaged as "solutions." If I'm right about that -- and the research...
More and more companies are collaborating on product development programs. The objective is to reduce production costs, make better use of skilled, specialist resources, and speed up the time to market. Tools like videoconferencing and the use of secure extranets have simplified collaboration. What You Need to KnowWhy is...
Mona Shaw, a 75-year old woman from Manassas Virginia, received a three-month suspended sentence, was fined $345, and was issued a year-long restraining order for going at her local Comcast payment center with a hammer. In August, she and her husband waited all day for a Comcast technician to come to their home and...
