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In: Achieving Operations Goals, Customer Experience, Operations Best Practices

Sales wants to add as many customizations as possible, but operations wants sales to sell “what is on the truck” already. I have seen this natural conflict or push/pull relationship at every company I have worked for, from packaging supplies, to online advertising to software. Having worked in both sales and ops, I have been both the requester and the rejector. What causes this conflict? Sales people want to please customers and they often believe that providing custom options and/or all the bells and whistles that the customers ask for, is what’s best for everyone. Their perspective is often about the short term gratification andRead More →

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In: Customer Experience

In my personal life, I tend to be drawn to consistent experiences. When I want something really good to drink, I go to Starbucks and get a Grande Soy Latte. It tastes the same everywhere I go. When I want a really delicious dessert, I head for the warm, chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream- rarely a bad choice!  I have my favorite brands of yogurt, wine and coffee so when I consume them, I get that consistent, good experience. I am a big fan of consistency, and it is just as important in my personal life as it is in the business world. 1)Read More →

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In: Customer Experience

We spend a lot of time talking about customer satisfaction but a lot less time talking about customer effort. Said another way, how much effort do your customers have to invest to actually get the satisfaction they are looking for? How easy is it for customers to find your self service portal? Once they get there, how is easy is it for them to navigate and find the actions they are seeking? After they open up a customer service ticket, how well do we do keeping them informed of the progress, or do we rely on them to continually check in? When we improve ourRead More →