There are a few things that go through your mind when a hungry Spotted Python decides your hand is lunch. Mostly they have to do with really, really wanting said python to let go, but also some regret at having been dumb enough to put your hand in front of it in the first place, […]
Is Empowerment Really Solving Customer Problems?
I know a guy who stops on the way the way to work for a coffee almost every day. He pulls up in front of the shop on a busy thoroughfare and parks where it is explicitly signed he shouldn’t. He creates a standing wave in traffic that probably lasts for half an hour after […]
Crappy Things in Pretty Wrapping: Marketers Need to Pay More Attention
I think my favourite thing about the holidays is all the pretty stuff. I love the Christmas windows in the department stores, with their inexplicable North Pole penguins. I’m a sucker for a beautifully wrapped fake present under the fake tree in the fake place that is a mall. A choir, a vaguely creepy inflated […]
Why Your Customers’ Expectations Are Ruining Your Relationships
We recently parted company with our home phone and internet service provider. After more than 20 years of indifferent service, punctuated by periodic episodes of stunning incompetence, we pulled the plug and switched it all to the cable company. Time will tell if that is the frying pan or the fire, but the point is, […]
Why We Need to Choose Discretion Over Policies
The wonderful Jason Fried points out that most company policies are a form of organizational scar tissue – an overreaction to a single, unexpected event. I love this metaphor, and I would suggest it extends well beyond dress codes and not stealing someone’s yogurt and has a profound impact on how we treat customers. Policies […]
