Mea culpas can be helpful or off-putting Depending on the circumstances and perceived sincerity, apologies can help solve a reputation problem or exacerbate it. Reputation management specialists hold a variety of views about if, when and how to apologize. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is the latest bigwig to apologize for his company’s actions. Whether or not […]
Sanctions work against countries…why not domestic scofflaws? Why shouldn’t young consumers level their brand of sanctions against corporate and celebrity targets who in many cases desperately deserve to be called to account? David Hogg has become, at least for the moment, a symbolic firebrand of this movement. To all the Laura Ingrahams and fellow believers […]
This post has been excerpted from: Is Personal Service in Fintech Getting Lost Amid the Digital Mindset? by Mark Lusky. …there’s a substantial segment of consumers that not only want, but demand, human service—particularly when it comes to customer support. Many people want to consult a live human being for help versus being relegated to […]
Diabetes affects your heart, so take this drug to decrease your odds of dying. Identity theft is right around the corner. Coffee is good for you…wait, bad for you…uh, good for you. (Repeat for eggs, coconut oil, etc.) We are deluged daily with “scary” information—much of it designed to goad you into buying a particular […]
I’ve always been a fan of “artificial intelligence,” starting with an elementary robot that looked like an erector set in motion. I was a small child, and my next-door neighbor had discovered a way to repurpose the robot to function as a TV remote. Pretty cool and heady stuff back then. Today’s technology is both […]
Time was, big ad agencies held sway over consumers with grandiose claims of product and service excellence. Quite often, the claims were exaggerated or downright false. But, until a groundswell of consumer sentiment hit the headlines, a grassroots activist went on the warpath, or an investigative reporter uncovered falsehoods, the ads, PR campaigns, and promotional […]
Winston Churchill said, “We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.” Words matter both for what is and isn’t said, and how. Donald Trump provides a high-profile reminder of the impact of words, and the consequent critical effect they can have on our lives. Trump, whose behavior often […]
Am I reading this correctly? Did the US President actually ask during an immigration meeting with Senate and House members, “Why do we want all these people from ‘shithole countries’ coming here?…Yes, he said ‘shithole countries’ — apparently in reference to the fact that immigrants from places like El Salvador, Haiti and Africa were being […]
by Mark Lusky Originally published in Label and Narrow Web, April 2017 Between CRM technologies, customer-facing protocols verging on obeisant, and attempted customer service upselling, the customer service mindset is getting really confusing. There are data mining, tracking and training challenges galore. And that’s just for the customer service workforce. The poor customer often is […]
by Mark Lusky Originally published in Label and Narrow Web, October 6 2017 Most of us know the drill. We donate once to a “worthy cause,” then are bombarded with pleas for additional contributions via emails, snail mail, text or a combination of the three. What started out as a satisfying gift often turns into […]
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