The pandemic has driven monumental changes in how people live, how communities function, and how businesses around the globe operate. At first, most of us have seen the many demands of social distancing as unforeseen, painful, and impossible to sustain long-term. And...

To Take Your Brand Safely Through This Crisis Since COVID-19 first hit our shores, most North American businesses have been forced into an uncomfortable balancing act, trying to juggle the immediate needs of customers with long-term planning and budget concerns – all...

In my previous post, I talked about the urgent planning responsibilities facing every customer service manager right now. That’s a lot trickier than it sounds. Planning now, in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic, for a future that includes a number of unknowns…...

This month, as nearly every country on earth continues to grapple with the challenges of COVID-19, many of us around the world paused, briefly, on May 9th to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE Day, the day WWII ended in Europe. I always appreciate these...

As You Plan for the Next Phase In a recent post, I talked about how leader mindsets will play a major role in how brands fare as they ramp back up to re-enter a post-COVID world. Companies who see their current, COVID-driven accommodations as necessary-but-temporary...

4 Steps to Deliver the Helpful, Professional, Reassuring CX Your Customers Need Most Right Now At a time when leadership teams of just about every brand in America are brainstorming ways to encourage customers to return, re-engage, and resume purchasing, there is a...

Will Yours Be One of Them? You probably had a business continuity plan defined. But if you’re like most brands, your robust, carefully prepared continuity plan wasn’t built to get you through this. Why? Because it was probably geared toward a set of potential crises...

Will Yours Be One of Them? Navigating the seemingly endless challenges of COVID-19 is forcing brand leaders to “learn how to walk fast on thin ice.” That’s how Nicole Bendaly describes the delicate balance, flexibility, and speed necessary to not only survive the...

As is true for just about everyone these days, the past several weeks have been a time of rapid transitions, brainstorming, problem solving, reflections – and an unprecedented volume of video conferences. The other day, I was struck by a realization that I wanted to...