Joseph Michelli
How’s your growth mindset? The link between mindset and customer experience
Let me guess, Your children are above average, You have an outstanding sense-of-humor, Your business is delivering a remarkable customer experience, and You’re blessed with a growth mindset. You’re probably right when it comes to your kids and to your ...
Human Experience in A Technological World
My momma used to say, “If you can’t say something nice – don’t say anything at all.” That guidance has typically proven to be invaluable. Today, however, I am going to skate on the edge of mom’s wisdom. I will not name the villains in…
Customer Segments or Customer Need States?
Customer segments or customer need states? The answer is … both! It’s an important distinction in which I work with my clients to understand and leverage. It is the difference between creating experiences based on customer segmentation versus customer ...
Trusting Your People [Infographic]
Customer experience is best defined as the perception of your customers based on all the interactions they have with your brand. Some of those perceptions extend beyond their direct interactions with you. Some people have suggested that when it co...
Trusting Your People | Superpowering Your Customer Experience
Customer experience is best defined as the perception of your customers based on all the interactions they have with your brand. Some of those perceptions extend beyond their direct interactions with you. Take United Airlines, for example, my perc...
Cutting-edge Service Technology Blended with a Human Service Culture
“The Robots are Coming, the Robots are Coming” Cutting-edge Service Technology Blended with a Human Service Culture I have loved Singapore since the first time I visited more than a decade ago. In fact, back in 2014, I wrote the following: Guess how t...
Optimal Customer Visioning
If you read my blog with any frequency, you’ve likely seen one of my many posts on the do’s and don’ts of customer journey mapping (e.g., Three Keys to Effective Customer Journey Mapping and What is Persona-Based Customer Journey Mapping?) Persona...
The Agility of Ownership – Lessons from South African Entrepreneurs
This is the 3rd and final installment in my series on customer experience lessons I gained from a recent trip to Africa. The first two blogs involved insights from the African Bush and from the informal townships. As you may know, I work predomina...
Customer Experience Lessons from Informal Townships [South Africa Part 2 of 3]
South Africa Part 2 of 3 – Customer Experience Lessons from Informal Townships This is the second in a three-part series on customer experience lessons I learned from a recent South African trip. Last week, I shared insights gained from the African bus...
Customer Experience Lessons from the African Bush
Every morning I wake up with deep gratitude for the blessings in my life. In the past ten days, for example, I had the extreme honor of working with entrepreneurs in South Africa who are seeking to deliver branded customer experiences that will give th...
Extending Kindness for Generations to Come
I am proud to call the United States my home! So on a week in which we celebrate America’s birth, I thought I would share a slightly updated version of a post I wrote some time ago. I offer it in the hope that we’ll…
Your Customer is Flawed but So Are YOU | The Gentle Side of Cognitive...
Dan Ariely, Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University and author of the book Predictably Irrational is one of the premier experts on the mental glitches we all share. Dan describes these glitches or cognitive biases as “system...
Drive EQ to Improve CX & ROE [It’s Alphabet Soup Time]
I have long believed that CX (customer experience) is as much about perceived emotional value as it is about logical assessments of practical value. In other words, I think customers determine the quality of an experience based on the benefits and attr...
Not All Customer Moments Are Created Equal | Building Memories When It Matters Most
If I asked you to tell me about a concert that you attended, my hunch is your story would either be of a recent event, a favorite concert, or a live-event debacle. I am not a gambler, but when it comes to predicting what is…
Small-Town Lessons on Relationship and Business Reputation
Long ago in a galaxy far, far away…If I were to paraphrase the Star Wars opening, a long time ago was the 1960’s and 70’s and that far away galaxy was my small hometown of Florence, Colorado. The main street of Florence was comprised of,…
Are you Letting your Products and Technology Down?
Even though I spend most of my career helping brands meld technology, products, process, and people into optimal customer experiences I must admit I can become “wide-eyed” with the speed and benefits of digital solutions. Take Starbucks’ deployment of ...
When the Customer Experience Goes Awry [Differentiation Through Service Recovery]
Forgive me for sounding braggadocious, but I AM PERFECTLY IMPERFECT! But then again so are you and so is your business. Unfortunately, some leaders either don’t know they are imperfect, or they seek to fool consumers into thinking their businesses are ...
For All Those You Serve Close the Loop
For the Love of Mike (and all the others you serve) – Close the Loop! The phrase “for the love of Mike” has a colorful Irish backstory wherein exasperation and frustration were redirected from God to Mick (or Mike). I am exasperated with a particular…
Rolling through the Highs and Lows | Where will your Customers Land?
I am always on the lookout for extraordinary customer experiences and sadly they are proportionally akin to the story of the princess and the frog – there are few princes and a lot of frogs. The other day, I encountered, count them, not one but…
5 Things Not To Do in Your Journey to Customer Experience Excellence
Raise your hand if you remember the radio or television police drama Dragnet. For the rest of you here’s a link from the History Channel. I reference Dragnet, so that I can borrow one of the many signature lines from the show, “Only the names...
