The Risk of 5 Star Service

Brilliant customer service does not come without risk. In fact, creating brilliant customer service automatically develops a whole set of new problems. That’s why organisations that are consistently excellent at delivering 5 Star Service are also excellent at dealing with these 5 barriers:   The Spotlight The super service spotlight magnifies everything. Previously minor issues […][...]

Lost an hour?

This weekend the clocks go forward. The language at this time is interesting. Which camp are you in? ‘Lost an hour’?   Or   ‘Gained light nights’? Of course, I’m a light nights fan.   I love playing with language. One of my favourites is to observe someone searching for something, rather than asking, ‘What […][...]

Previously on 24

One of my favourite early 2000s TV shows was 24.   I often joked, if I were to bump into Kiefer Sutherland, the first thing I would do is check my watch. I’d want to make sure it wasn’t coming up to the hour as something terrible always happened near him!    I watched every episode and […][...]

What’s happening to customer service?

It was just 10ml. A teaspoon of fizz. A moment to shine! Made dull by a poor customer service experience.   Our small town has a beautifully refurbished hotel. Like many businesses, they didn’t think anything about spending £100k on the bar and yet 10p on training the staff who are working in it. This […][...]

Fraught with friction

Brilliant Customer Service requires more than a fake smile and ‘Have a nice day’. It demands introspection, innovation and, more than ever, ease. Think smooth.   Friction is the now the leading bugbear for customers. You can be rude, drop the ball, mess up pricing and still be forgiven. If your interaction is fraught with […][...]

Too much choice

I was going to create a Black Friday sale with amazing offers on loads of products. And then I remembered the jam experiment, where a supermarket increased its range of jams fivefold and sold… less jam. Most people appreciate less choice, not more. Keep it simple Heppell.   In the spirit of less jam choice, […][...]

The Opportunity Clock

When I first heard Zig Ziglar talking about the Opportunity Clock, I realised it was a Flip It moment of genius. It’s stayed with me forever. Opportunity is something we want to move towards. Alarm is something we want to move away from. When the alarm clock goes, the temptation is to click snooze. When […][...]

When to clean tables

We flew home with Jet2 last week. In one of those rows where they need to attach a ‘micro table’. You know the type. Like the ones in lecture theatres, that swing out of the arm rest so you can take notes. So long as you are taking notes on the back of a postage […][...]

124 didn’t, but over 5000 did.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of training at, and hosting, the Not Just Travel conference.     The room was buzzing! A combination of coming out of the pandemic (which had decimated much of their business) and the boom in new bookings created a heady atmosphere.     But, there was an elephant […][...]

What’s Happened to Hospitalty?

I’m back on the road. Over the last couple of months, the switch has been flicked and bookings are flooding in for keynotes and training.    And with that comes travel and hotels.     It’s no secret that the hospitality industry is having a staffing crisis.   I talked to a restaurant manager last week […][...]

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