With a little prodding, I can get my friend John Hicks to talk about the time he got a small part in the Coen brothers’ classic movie, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” One of John’s principle memories of the experience was the heat. The political rally scene in which John had his part was shot […]
These are scary times and I should know because I’m no stranger to fear. When I was nine years old I watched Earth vs. the Flying Saucers on TV and it flat out scared the living bejibbers out of me. Most of the movie wasn’t all that bad. I could handle the flying saucers zipping […]
As I drove away from Holland, Michigan, I knew I might be in real trouble. I had read about blizzards and seen them on TV plenty of times, but I had never experienced one firsthand. Creeping eastward on I-196, the dim outline of dark shapes punctuated the whiteness on either side of my car. I […]
What can you do about inner-office conflict? For the first several years of my career, I was the sole employee of my company. I was both manager and employee. Receptionist and CEO. I was the one and only occupant of my office, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t conflict between me and my coworker. One […]
How the next level of customer service can elevate your business and increase sales My assistant recently told my wife that she was considering buying a coin-counting machine. My wife asked her if she had thought of taking her coins to a local bank to use their free coin counter. My assistant replied that she […]
I found the exact computer I wanted online, but I needed to know one thing before I hit the “purchase” button: Did the company also sell the extended-life battery for this model? If they did, then they automatically had an instant, add-on sale. I called the company and told the person answering the phone that […]
I needed a new printer a few months ago so I headed to my office supply store. I don’t want to publicly bash any company so let’s just say the name of the store was Stooples Office Supply. Moments after I walked in the front door, a well-meaning Stooples sales associate greeted me and began […]
It was the best of customer service. It was the worst of customer service. For legal purposes, I’m not going to mention the name of the mega airline to which I am referring in this article, but will disguise their name so you don’t know who I’m talking about. So, a couple of months ago, […]
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 […]
Most postal carriers I know are hard-working folks with great attitudes. That said, it seems to me that the Post Office management and bureaucracy are cut from a completely different cloth. A while back the Post Offices found themselves flat broke and were looking for ways to become profitable again. So the brilliant solution they […]
