I write a lot about customer experience, service and retention. With our hyper-competitive industry demanding greater transparency, it will continue to become more important. In a recent article, “…

In the October 2013 edition of Dealer magazine, I examined a phenomenon that occurred last Christmas. Partnering with luxury shopping site Gilt.com, Starbucks offered an ultra-exclusive steel metal loyalty card for sale on their site for $450. The loyalty cards came pre-loaded with $400 in Starbucks credit…

An excellent and valuable article by Andy Rachleff - President & CEO at Wealthfront Inc.

Over the past few weeks, I have noticed a significant difference in the way older and younger people see the importance of experts. It’s a classic generation gap.

People in…

Would your customers get a tattoo of your brand?

A recent article on Forbes told the story of Swiftwick, a sock company that had such a fervent following that customers had been getting their logo tattooed on themselves. According to the article, this company does little to no…

As I’m sure you’ve heard, Blockbuster Video has gone out of business. DISH Network, which owns Blockbuster, officially announced last week that they would be closing all 300 U.S. Stores. There was a time when local video stores were the dominant retail outlets to rent movies from. Then along came the mega-video stores like Hollywood Video and Blockbuster, which slowly but…

In business, you are what you are perceived to be.  Your customers not only have their own opinions of your business, but they can also influence other potential customers. How you actually run your business is certainly important. Just as important, however, is how customers that have never stepped foot in your business perceive you. Before they ever step foot into your…

There are countless articles on how hard it is to create a truly loyal customer and how easy it is to lose one. Creating customer loyalty is a challenge that all businesses face. There are many techniques and strategies that can assist you along this path but, at times, we’re presented with opportunities that can accomplish this instantaneously.

Earlier this…

The Ritz-Carlton hotel chain has an exciting customer service policy that empowers every employee with $2,000 to satisfy any guest without approval. This isn’t a one-time power but it’s per incident. Some business owners like the general idea but express concerns about…

Articles are continuously being written in hopes of dissecting and duplicating the Apple Store experience for other businesses. I’ve even seen sessions at industry conferences that revolve around how to duplicate this in car dealerships. While I agree that it should be every dealership’s goal to achieve the level of loyalty that Apple has, an interesting thought occurred to…

What was the last restaurant you ate at? Did you tell anyone about it? Why? What prompted you to do so? Did you get good service, bad service? Was the food great or horrible?

What these questions all have in common is that they all answers the fundamental aspects of what type of customer experience that restaurant provided. You’re certainly more likely to…

“While everyone ran in panic, Roselle remained totally focused on her job.”

Sometimes life gets hectic. We try to focus on and accomplish too many things at the same time. We have deadlines to meet, customers vying for our attention, fires to put out and countless voicemails and e-mails to respond to. In a world where employers consider…

Life lessons typically come when you least expect them as software coder, Ted Dziuba, discovered. He and his friend went to a bar that served Pappy Winkle’s Family Reserve Bourbon Whiskey that is widely regarded as the world’s best bourbon. While drinking, they talked to the bartender who explained to…

Being different will get you more service business, according to a recent study published by Google. In a study titled “The Road to Winning Drivers: What Drivers Want In the Automotive Aftermarket Service,” Google shared some interesting insights into how service…

As I’m sure you’re aware, this week saw the annual return of Shark Week on the Discovery channel. In its 26^th season, the summer-event has gained a cult-like following for the Discovery Channel. According to the Today show, this single week of…

Frequently, I write about how dealerships (or any company for that matter) need to have efficient, reliable communication tools in place so that all departments can access information at a glance. Quite ironically, one of the largest tech companies in the world, Microsoft, just proved that best practice as completely true.

People rely on Google to access many…

MySpace was, in many people’s opinion, the social network to be on for many years. In fact, in 2006, MySpace surpassed Google as the most visited website in the United States. The decline of MySpace began in 2008 as Facebook rose in popularity and became the newest social network of preference for many. MySpace’s user base…

Tales are told almost everyday of some traveler or another experiencing a travel nightmare. Everyone that travels has an airline that they love to hate. I don’t know that it would be possible for all airlines to make each unhappy passenger happy, even if they tried.

In today’s world, the complaints that typically do get publicity are the most extreme sorts of…

Sounds ridiculous, right? It’s real, however. A case study involving a pizza joint in New York has shown that offering ridiculous rewards can pay off. This particular pizza joint has several “over-the-top” rewards but none as much so as the promise of a free Ferrari…

Disney is beloved the world over and is recognized as a premiere family destination place. Whether you’re talking about the parks in Orlando, or California, people pay premium prices to be able to enjoy a little of the magic. But what makes Disney any different than the other amusement parks in the world? Many would say it’s Disney’s philosophy and…

In the automotive world, the bottom line is that many dealerships experience very high turnover rates with employees, especially in sales. Our world is one of high stress, long hours and feast or famine. (This might not be as true in the service departments.) However, the face of your dealership to a customer who bought their car from you is their salesperson. Yes, it is.…