It’s all about the smize ?
Greeting customers with a warm smile and a welcome is a key component of excellent customer service. When wearing masks it is harder to connect with customers in this way so we need to make sure our eyes are smiling. Now a genuine smile would light up our whole face anyway – and I am […]
Skinny latte to go?
Tuesday was national coffee day. I do enjoy a nice coffee and when I worked in the centre of Leeds buying my morning coffee was part of my daily ritual. With a wealth of places to choose from my coffee of choice was from a small independent outlet. At the time, it was not a conscious […]
Behind the times?
Single-use plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds are now banned in England. We have frequently holidayed in Aruba and they banned single use items back in 2017. At first it was strange to not get a wee plastic straw in your cocktail – but we soon overcame it and were full of respect and […]
Some trends are here to stay…
One trend that has been around for many years and still going strong is personalisation. Making your client’s experience with you unique and providing those wow moments. It can be as simple as asking about their holiday/family/health etc to actually offering a bespoke service tailored to their needs. I was watching a programme last night […]
M&S – the only way is up?
It was sad, but unsuprising to read this week that M&S have made a loss for the first time in their 94 year trading history. They are putting the loss down to the lack of sales of clothing in particular – between July and September clothing sales in city centre stroes were down by 53%. […]
Understanding changing habits
Us strategists do love our 2×2 matrices and I came across another one this week in the latest Harvard Business Review (Sept-Oct). In an article entitled ‘Adapt your Business to the New Reality’ it talks about how businesses need to understand the changing habits due to Covid and assess whether they are temporary shifts or […]
The simplest solution
Any idea what this is? I bought this a few years ago to help me lose weight! The idea was you wear it round your waist and it stops you over-eating as it tightens. Yes, I was taken in by the photos of the slim models…and yes, it has pretty much sat in a drawer […]
Evolution elimination
I was fascinated to read today that babies are no longer being born with wisdom teeth, as we evolve at a faster than at any time in the past 250 years. Dr Teghan Lucas, of Flinders University in Adelaide, said faces are becoming a lot shorter, with smaller jaws meaning there is less room for […]
The demise once again of the cinema
Cineworld announced this week it is closing it’s doors for the unforeseen future. The final nail in the coffin was the delay once again of the latest James Bond film. I am old enough to remember when cinemas were hit by the advent of video stores. It was a treat to walk to your local […]
Is Covid becoming a convenient excuse for poor service?
Twice in as many days I have had poor customer service blamed on Covid. I ordered a dress from a well known high street store (I feel I shouldn’t name and shame!!). They processed my payment immediately (no issues there) and my dress arrived promptly within 48 hours (no issues there). Great…however dress looked awful […]