On an episode of Undercover Boss, Joe DePinto, the CEO of 7-Eleven, went undercover at a 7-Eleven Store in Shirley, NY, to find out why they sell more cups of coffee than any other franchise. Shortly after arriving at work at 5:30 a.m., Joe discovered the secret of their success: an energetic, outgoing 7-Eleven employee […]
I have to go to the dermatologist regularly these days, because when I was younger I thought it’d be a great idea to lay out in the sun and burn myself to a crisp. Yes, it was stupid to expose myself to lethal doses of radiation, but on the other hand, I had a really […]
I was sitting in a hotel room a couple of months ago when I received the following instant message from a lady I didn’t know: “Mr. Marshall, I believe you have been hacked. Some creep has been messaging me on Facebook, wanting money. I did an image search and found you, and you don’t seem […]
It really isn’t what you say, but how you say it, isn’t it? Not long ago, I received a letter from the Post Office notifying me that it is time to pay my annual bulk rate mailing dues. I was expecting the letter but what I wasn’t expecting was the verbiage it contained: Dear Charles […]
It’s that time of year again when it has become necessary for me to switch from shorts to pants, and I couldn’t be happier. I had almost forgotten the comfort, warmth, and security that wearing pants provides. It’s just like getting a hug of sunshine, but without the searing heat and life-threatening melanoma. The reason […]
Customer Service means never saying “no.” I went into a sweets store at the mall this past weekend to buy a gift basket for a visiting client. As I browsed the store’s shelves, I noticed the goodies in the baskets looked less than appetizing, so I asked Jeff, the customer service representative, if he could […]
For just a moment, forget about productivity. Forget about making your company more money. Forget getting a better performance review. To me, good customer service isn’t really about any of those things. To me, providing good customer service is about the person that I want to be. Think about the last time you were provided […]
Are you customer service driven? I rent cars a lot. I rent them when I’m traveling across the country, but I also rent them when I’m doing events that are 3 or 4 hours away, so that I avoid putting extra miles on my own car. Consequently, I’ve come to know all of my local […]
They say that nature abhors a vacuum, but the truth is it hates all appliances. If you don’t believe me, leave a toaster in your yard for a couple of years and see what happens. Nature will not be kind to it. I live in the South, so seeing yard appliances isn’t that uncommon. There […]
One of the questions I am most frequently asked these days is: How do we hire quality employees who want to work? My answer is pretty simple, really: Always be recruiting. Recently, when I was speaking at a school nutrition conference, I asked for volunteers to stand up and tell me their best customer service […]
