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Service

The Mystique of Partnership

by Chris Arlen

Every supplier I’ve spoken with wants to be a “partner” with their customers. It’s right up there with other cliches, such as “our service is second to none” and “our people are [...]

click to continue → January 12, 2011

Don’t Go Under That Bus

by Chris Arlen

You know you’re under the front wheels of the contract cancellation bus when customers place you, their service supplier, in a poor light so they can come out smelling like roses. That [...]

click to continue → October 20, 2010

Blindsided by a Mental Model

by Chris Arlen

This is isn’t about a deranged runway exhibitionist. It’s about suppliers’ frustrations with customers’ behavior in service relationships. Does the following scenario sound familiar? You’re a facility service supplier. You’ve been working [...]

click to continue → October 11, 2010

Incremental Fruit & Crowbar Leverage

by Chris Arlen

There is no low hanging fruit. Not anymore. Only incremental improvements You’ve tackled the low hanging and enjoyed the returns. That leaves only incrementals. The good news is you have an infinity [...]

click to continue → April 9, 2010

Government Leveling Contractors Playing Field

by Chris Arlen

An article in today’s New York Times describes a possible change in the way federal contracts are awarded, and it specifically calls out facility service contracts. Plan to Seek Use of U.S. [...]

click to continue → February 26, 2010

A Frequent Buyer Program for Service Customers

by Chris Arlen

Frequent buyers are your existing customers, those already under a base contract for an on-going service. Base contracts provide revenue, non-contract services (aka project work, TAGs, etc.) provide profits. Customers under contract [...]

click to continue → January 25, 2010

Immigration, Service Labor & Politics

by Chris Arlen

U.S. immigration laws, enforcement and politics are tied up in an overwhelmingly complex knot. Immigration touches all areas of society: the economy, publicly funded social systems, and universal human rights. At a [...]

click to continue → August 6, 2009

Add 100s of Salespeople for Free

by Chris Arlen

Everybody sells. Even your hourly paid janitor or security guard. Whenever they’re seen or approached by a prospect or customer, they’re selling your company. Think about those 1,000s of interactions every day. [...]

click to continue → June 26, 2009

Janitorial Fact & Fiction

by Chris Arlen

March 16, 2009 Unhappy Janitors at Microsoft protest subcontractor’s cuts This article points to the janitorial subcontractor’s staffing cuts and unhappy janitors because of increased workloads. It made me wonder about our [...]

click to continue → March 19, 2009

United reworking Customer Experience

by Chris Arlen

The airline industry is a great model for looking at big pain compressed into a short history. It provides insights into cost cutting strategies, and how they play out over time. Using [...]

click to continue → March 5, 2009

Footnotes #1 & #2

by Chris Arlen

Footnote #1: Received interesting feedback from the recent Revenue-IQ article, Zero-Based Servicing, here’s one that got me thinking: A contractor brought up the issue of how well customers understand the relationship between [...]

click to continue → February 26, 2009

A New First Consideration: An Industry’s Health

by Chris Arlen

It used to be more important to select a company to work for, rather than choosing the industry it was in. The belief was that a great company could outperform the industry [...]

click to continue → February 19, 2009

Is US Airways shooting itself in the head?

by Chris Arlen

That’s right, in the head, not the foot. Because the foot might take some time. And US Airways appears in a hurry to end it all. US Airways Targets its Noggin In [...]

click to continue → February 6, 2009

Self-respect in the Service Role

by Chris Arlen

Rodney Dangerfield‘s “I don’t get no respect” setup his punchlines. The service role can say the same thing that it doesn’t get respect either, but it’s not funny. Janitors, security guards, landscapers, [...]

click to continue → January 8, 2009

Implied Service Responsibilities

by Chris Arlen

In an overly simplistic world, say back in high school, if you bought a service you’d sit back and expect it to be done – without any input on your part. Like [...]

click to continue → September 25, 2008

Who Defines Your Service?

by Chris Arlen

Recently a client brought up the question of “who defines service”. Not WHAT the specs were. But HOW the end-user should receive service. This client is a large corporate service department of [...]

click to continue → August 12, 2008

Greenwashing is…

by Chris Arlen

…the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service… Bandwagons are for jumping on. And Green is playing loudly everywhere, [...]

click to continue → July 12, 2008

Buying Decisions & upcoming Service Contract Manifesto

by Chris Arlen

Last week’s post, The 5 Service Dimensions All Customers Care About , referred to research showing how customers assess the quality of a service. That post prompted a contractor to point out [...]

click to continue → April 4, 2008

The 5 Service Dimensions All Customers Care About

by Chris Arlen
click to continue → March 27, 2008

When is the Right Time to Improve?

by Chris Arlen

That’s a leading question coming from a consultant. Is it self-serving? You bet. Now that’s out of the way, let’s look at why this question is worth talking about. At any time [...]

click to continue → March 2, 2008

Does the NY Times read Revenue-IQ?

by Chris Arlen

On December 14, 2007, Revenue-IQ posted “Consequences” about executive mistakes that cost 1,000s of jobs, yet the execs can easily find new jobs. On January 27, 2008 the NY Times ran “What’s [...]

click to continue → January 28, 2008

All Business is Personal

by Chris Arlen

Here’s a belief that’s evolved as I mature (aka getting older). And this belief is frequently lost in the daily grind. All business is personal. Earth shattering? Nope. Do we work that [...]

click to continue → December 22, 2007

The Adoption Curve

by Chris Arlen

Facility contractors try to differentiate themselves to customers by presenting new programs in proposals. It doesn’t end there. Contractors also try to change their own companies for better, faster, cheaper. Proposing something [...]

click to continue → June 14, 2007

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