Chip R. Bell's Blog, page 4

Do You Always Show Respect to Customers?

Several years ago, I purchased an industrial strength sleeper sofa and had it delivered to my weekend getaway home on a nearby lake. This was my first experience with this furniture store. The salesperson neglected to tell me that the standard mattress that came on the $900 sleeper-sofa bed was only a “pretend” mattress—one you might endure only for a short night after partying really late!

 

After one miserable night on it, I called the furniture store to report on my aching back and to arrange...

The People You Meet While Hunkered Down

Three early morning trips to the local grocery store left me bomb-shelter-ready for a three-week air raid. The cat has enough cat sand; all meds are up-to-date, and vehicles are gassed up… just in case. Now, for the waiting and worrying.

 

I am reminded of being on ambush my first night of combat in Southeast Asia. That was fifty years ago and I still remember it was a very long, silent and anxious night.  As a newly minted platoon leader, I recall feeling unsure if I would have the command pres...

A River Runs Through Service

Standing on the banks of a magnificent river, your imagination can run wild.  A mighty river can take you many miles, connecting you with countless ports and people along the way.  Rivers are still an important source of commerce transportation.  It is the source of electric power in many places.  Just, consider of all the stories told about the Mississippi river running over 2000 miles from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans.

 

After a long rain or heavy storm, a river’s power...

Serving Like a Wise Owl

Audubon Magazine features annually their photography awards.  This is the magazine of the National Audubon Society, the oldest conservation organization in the world for the protection of birds.  Their 2018 grand prize winner was Steve Mattheis who made an amazing photo of a Great Gray Owl in Wyoming with a Nikon D850 camera.  The story behind how he made the shot was fascinating.  But the big deal story was about the actual bird he photographed.  The owl stands almost three feet tall with a...

The Power of Service Clairvoyance

Two weeks ago I visited my long-term friend, Karen, in the Novant Health hospital near Charlotte in critical condition.  Mounted on the wall near the couch in her hospital room where my wife and I sat for several hours was a courtesy charging station for cell phones.  It had a cord for every conceivable phone on the planet and a shelf to lay your phone while it was being charged.  It meant I would not have to leave to go find a way to charge my cell phone and risk missing a crucial health tur...

The Halloween of Service

Halloween is coming soon.  Kids are starting to think about “who ‘ya gonna be this year,” doorbells and knocks, candles in pumpkins, goblins and witches, bats and spiders, oh my!  Parents are thinking about sugar highs, yard decorations, and too many visitors. But, the phrase that most characterizes the season of scare is “trick or treat.”  The front door command literally means, “Give me a treat or be prepared to be the victim of my trick.”

 

Customers have their own form of the Halloween ri...

Comcast Customer Experience Reinvented!

I have seen the future and it is Comcast.  No, really!  Comcast is staging one of the biggest brand renaissance comebacks ever.  I predict it will be right up there with Apple, GM, Marvel, and Lego.  Personally, I would add my favorite, Delta Airlines, in the “comeback kid” category.

 

Now, for the backstory.

 

I was invited, along with a dozen customer experience gurus, to spend a day with Comcast leadership in their brand-new, just-opened Comcast Technology Center in Philly.  We were there...

Air Conditioned Service

The air conditioning system broke in the little country church we attend when we have a getaway weekend to our North Georgia river house.  It was a hotter than normal day, even for the normally cool mountain area.  So, the church ceiling fans were turned on!  It was an improvement, but clearly not the same.  It reminded me of customer service…but, then most things do!!

 

A fan moves the hot air around much like a sudden breeze on a hot July day.  It is temporary and superficial, accomplished...

Disrupt Your Competition with Convenience

The following is a guest post by customer service and customer experience expert, Shep Hyken.

 

I believe that that the next competitive differentiator will be convenience, and I’ve written an entire book on the subject, The Convenience Revolution. Offering customers convenience is essential to keep them coming back. It takes your customer service and customer experience to the next level. A few companies have made convenience part of their core strategy – including Amazon – and by doing so h...

Be a Banjo in Your Symphony Orchestra

Bella Fleck is arguably the greatest banjo player in the world.  Winner of 16 Grammy Awards, his amazing repertoire ranges from bluegrass to classical.  He made the news in the music world when he wrote a banjo concerto called “The Imposter” and performed it with symphony orchestras around the country to sell-out crowds.

 

A banjo in a symphony?  Banjos don’t go with Bach and Beethoven.  They belong with square dances, pizza parlors, and having-a-great-time gatherings.  Symphonies are suppose...