Since mid-March, McKinsey & Company has been conducting a series of “Consumer Sentiment” studies in an effort to track the impact of COVID-19 on buyer needs, expectations, and attitudes. When their most recent results were reported a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help...

Customers everywhere are undergoing a dramatic (sometimes unconscious) recalibration of their brand expectations. For the brands who fail to measure, embrace, and adapt to these changes, the future may look very uncertain. If you doubt that, consider the many basic,...

While there's a lot of advice floating around out there about how to save, revive, restore, or reboot a business that is staggering under the weight of COVID-19. Very few have been as resonant or straightforward as this recent summary by Bruce Levinson for Retail...

Businesses throughout the world are busy revising sales projections, staffing costs, even entire strategic plans in response to COVID-19. For many, the future remains extremely uncertain. For most, one thing remains abundantly clear: survival of the brand will hinge...

Usually, we think of “disruptors” as upstart competitors that swoop in with new solutions to old needs (or new ways of convincing buyers of needs they never even knew they had). Unforeseen disruptions can wreak havoc on the processes, practices – and profits – of even...

Use this 10-Trait Scale for a Quick Reality Check Customer centricity. You know what it means: running your business with your customers’ needs front and center of your actions, investments, and decisions. You also know why it’s important to be customer centric. And...

Are You Ready to Re-Build Customer Loyalty? The 2020 National Customer Rage Study was released last month. With everything else going on, did you have a chance to look through it? You should. It’s a quick and straight-forward read. It’s also an eye-opener. This year’s...

Don’t Skip These Critical Steps Sometimes, the best way to get a reality check on how well you’re really treating your own customers is to simply be one of your own customers. Experience your brand’s customer experience. What do I mean by that? Well, let’s be real. If...

The short-term steps you take immediately after a crisis can have a huge long-term impact on customer trust. You already knew that. You probably even had a business continuity plan that detailed the 3 basics for rebounding after catastrophe: move swiftly to identify...

When your customers reach out to you with a question or a problem, you know they’re expecting a clear, accurate, efficient response. If you can’t meet those expectations, the future of your customer care operation – and your brand – looks pretty bleak. But you also...