Is there a compelling reason to go buy from Sears, Kmart, or YOU?

8 comments December 29, 2011

I loved the opening line of this recent news story, written by Joyce Smith of McClatchy Newspapers: ” It’s not only the Grinch who stole Christmas. Some grouchy salesclerks do, too.” The article states up to 40 percent of revenues for a retailer can come from holiday sales. Yet, at precisely the moment they should [...]

Read the full article →

Wishing you a VERY Merry Christmas…

December 24, 2011

Here is an audio message of gratitude for the Holiday… There are so many Christmas mornings I remember where I left the house in the pre-dawn hours of the morning to go to work at either a radio station…or, later, a television station in Indianapolis..and work until midday. My family was always wonderful and understanding [...]

Read the full article →

The Holidays can be your sabbatical…

December 23, 2011

Many years ago, when I worked as Director of Public Affairs and Annual Fund (which, upon reflection, was a very silly combination) for my alma mater, Franklin College, I would hear professors talk about taking a sabbatical. Frankly, at that early point in my life and career, I wasn’t quite certain what a “sabbatical” really [...]

Read the full article →

Update on making sure your people are sold on what they’re selling…

1 comment December 18, 2011

I should have known. Really…I should have. I just received an email regarding my previous post about the CEO of BMW Portugal and his effort to be certain his entire team was committed and enthusiastic about their opportunities to grow the company. The message was from Klaus Kibsgaard, the subject of the post, now CEO [...]

Read the full article →

Are your people sold on what they are selling?

December 15, 2011

If you REALLY want to be inspired, and to grow your leadership abilities, I wish I could introduce you to my new friend, Klaus Kibsgaard, CEO of BMW Nordic. You’ll be reading more very soon here about my visit to his incredible meeting last week in Stockholm — however, I wanted to first share with [...]

Read the full article →

If you want to learn more, listen more…

December 8, 2011

During my recent trip to Slovakia, I had the honor of being interviewed by the “Larry King,” so to speak, of that country. Her name is Andrea Vadkerti — and she’s a quite remarkable broadcast journalist and personality. Looking back, I was trying to think of what made her so good at getting her subjects [...]

Read the full article →

Seasonal employees can make an enduring impression…

November 29, 2011

It’s the time of year many organizations are adding “seasonal help.” In other words, they are increasing staff through temporary hires to get them through the busy holiday season. A quick web search revealed many companies adding employees to get them through the crunch of business. Of particular note was the number of newspapers both [...]

Read the full article →

ThanksLIVING, not just “Thanksgiving”

November 24, 2011

My mentor, Grady Nutt, had a remarkable insight I always remember, even these almost three decades later, every time we in the United States celebrate this weekend’s holiday. Grady always said he wished we called it “ThanksLIVING” instead of “Thanksgiving.” “It is important to give thanks,” he would say, “but it is much more important [...]

Read the full article →

What exactly IS “customer loyalty”?

1 comment November 18, 2011

In response to a recent post, I received a great comment and question from Tom Penney, who wrote: “You talk a lot about loyalty, I wonder if you’d care to define it. That’s the wrong word for me. Businesses and people may want to experience the feelings of loyalty but essentially it’s one sided, it [...]

Read the full article →

Customer and employee loyalty is reciprocal…

1 comment November 16, 2011

Ever since I posted about CNN terminating longtime employees during “Employee Appreciation Week,” I have received scads of email messages, Tweets, Facebook contact, and more, sharing a litany of stories of what I find to be horrific behavior by organizations toward their team. Yes, I understand the liability issues and need from an HR perspective [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →