Why managers need to step up (and what happens when they don’t)!

A very dear friend of mine came to visit recently, and as she is getting married in summer, we felt the need to celebrate.  Ever the budget-conscious Northerner, I sought out a decent deal on one of my favourite website, TimeOut.  It’s great for those of us in big cities, allowing you to find great…

Valuing customers: Why I deleted my Facebook account

Many of us who are passionate about customers have been following the recent revelations relating to Facebook and customer data used by Cambridge Analytica.  The scandal centres around how Facebook, as a holder of vast amounts of customer data could allow the harvesting of data from 50 million Facebook users to be used by a third…

How do I reward customers without spending a penny?

So if you clicked through to read an article on creating / rejuvenating an advocacy programme for free, then I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong place – there is no quick fix or magic spell for a fully-fledged nurture programme for your greatest fans!  If you’re looking for a handful of cost-effective and simple…

If you need to say it to your customer, you probably don’t really mean it.

There I was, hanging on the phone, waiting for someone, ANYONE to answer my call.  The financial services company had forced me through an annoying process of automated identification, and a clunky IVR, and now I was stuck waiting to speak to someone, listening to bland elevator music.  Suddenly the music stops, and a voice…