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  • Changing Hair Dressers AGAIN!
    - Wednesday February 23, 2011
    This may seem like a silly topic, especially to men, but it definitely tells a story about customer retention vs. customer exodus. I spend quite a bit of money yearly on my hair, as I’m sure most women do. And now that I’ve tipped over the age of 50 I’m even more vain and willing to pay even more money to keep the gray hairs from showing their silver/white strands. So, not only do I pay to have my hair cut, but I pay to have it colored and highlighted. I pay for the special products I need to treat the specially dyed hair, and I pay for all the other products that will make it poof when I want it poofy, or go straight when I want the flatter look. The end result is any hairdresser who wants to earn a good living...

  • You Just Never Know!
    - Wednesday August 4, 2010
    Bill and I never know how people will react to our articles and publications. However, one recent response on our new book was totally unexpected. Our book “No More Rotten Eggs – A Dozen Steps to Grade AA Talent Management†got into the library of the federal prison just south of Tucson. As a result, we have been invited to spend a few hours at the prison on my birthday, August 11, meeting with inmates who are learning how to adapt to life upon release. One of the classes being developed by an inmate will focus on how to be “A Good Egg.†They want us to come down and provide some guidance based on our book and our staffing experiences. I hope we do okay so they will let us back out.

  • Very Interesting
    - Thursday July 8, 2010
    It is always interesting to watch the ongoing debate between owners on which new widget to buy or how to get their existing widget serviced properly. As I look at the different opinions, it seems to be more a question of who they are dealing with rather than the quality of the widget itself. Sure, sometimes there are some lemons out there, but by and large, most complaints are because they don’t like the dealer or the techs. Do you ever wonder if your ability to draw customers has nothing to do with the equipment that you have, but rather how you and your staff are interacting with your customers or how you are interacting with your employees. Do your customers complain about how they are treated at your store or do your employees...

  • Open and Honest
    - Sunday June 27, 2010
    Open and Honest (This blog was submitted by Bill Greif of TG & Associates) Debra asked me to take a cut at a blog about a subject that we feel is critical to business success and growth. We often emphasize the role of leadership in the business and we cite the traits that we think represent leadership. Being open and honest with your staff is such a trait. When we work with owners we ask if they are open and honest, and they always say they are. Then we ask if they share the numbers, and the response is usually, “No, of course not. They don’t need to know that.†When I worked in aerospace, the employee profit sharing at the end of the year depended on how the company did against the goals in four major areas: Bookings...

  • Back on the Road Again
    - Monday May 31, 2010
    Some of you may know that I had to stop a lot of my travel a couple of years ago for health reasons. Anyway, things seem to be better now, so I am going to be doing some speaking engagements again and trying to get back to where I was at that time. On June 4, I will be at Northwest Forest in Houston speaking for ICED. I will be doing two different sessions. I am really looking forward to the opportunity to see some old friends and get back in the middle of things. Interestingly, Bill will also be doing some speaking at the same time. He will be at MFSA in Charleston, SC, from June 3-5, presenting twice there. Who knows, this could become another career for him. The tough deal now is trying to make arrangements for Spencer (our somewhat...

  • Don’t Delay – Hire Now
    - Tuesday May 18, 2010
    Hopefully, you have seen some of our announcements and press releases about our new book, "No More Rotten Eggs – A Dozen Steps to Grade AA Talent Management," just published by McGraw-Hill and available in book stores everywhere and online. We have been asked why we would suggest a book on hiring now when, in fact, many companies are still in the downsizing mode. Well, the fact of the matter is that this is the right time to hire. Not to add staff, but rather to upgrade staff. Given all the discussion of a structural change in the industry, it is only logical that business owners recognize the need to restructure to cope with these structural changes. And when they restructure, they need to be sure that their current staff will fit...

  • Creating Total Customer Satisfaction
    - Friday May 14, 2010
    One of my first books was The Forgotten Customer. I wrote it to address the fact that your customers have expectations for a product or service that will make them say, “I Love It.†I learned long ago that in order to get that result it is necessary to hire the right employees, provide training, rewards and recognition. But that is not sufficient for business success. It is essential that we create a culture where we take care of the internal customer first. I call that a culture of Total Customer Satisfaction. When each employee of the company sets out to satisfy his or her internal customers first, the end result is the external customer will automatically be satisfied. The internal customer, whom I refer to as “The...

  • New content coming soon from Debra Thompson.
    - Thursday May 6, 2010

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