Bob Thompson
Bob Thompson
Bob Thompson is CEO of CustomerThink, an independent research and publishing firm focused on customer-centric business management, and Founder/Editor-in-Chief of CustomerThink.com, the world's largest community dedicated to customer-centric business. Thompson is a popular international keynote speaker, blogger and author of Hooked On Customers: The Five Habits of Legendary Customer-Centric Companies.
Voice of Customer 2.0 = Acting on Feedback, Creating Business Value
I know, that "2.0" thing has been overdone. It's been used to signify the next generation of the Internet (Web 2.0), collaboration (Enterprise 2.0)...
What is Customer Value? A Customer-Centric View
Over the years when I've spoken at conferences and workshops, I've done a group exercise asking for a definition of "customer value." With rare...
Apple shines (again) in ClickFox loyalty survey
Last year a ClickFox survey found Apple scored highest in brand loyalty. This year, a similar survey found Apple once again in the top...
Apple’s biggest risk is… a new corporate HQ!?
Apple has been on tear since introducing the iPhone in mid-2007. Hard to believe that was just 6 years ago. I remember at the...
ScottishPower Uses a Balanced Scorecard of Metrics to Drive Customer Service Excellence
A few years ago, my family experienced frequent power outages at our home during bad storms. One time, the power to a sump pump...
The Omnichannel Service Experience – Coming Soon or Just a Tantalizing Mirage?
Next time you're walking in the desert on a hot day, in the distance you may see what appears to be a body of...
The Key to Success with Employee Empowerment: Work Backwards from the Customer
In the mid-1980s during my time at IBM, I remember an "empowerment" initiative that swept through the company. We attended training programs and learned...
IBM launches Customer Experience Lab. Good or bad news for CX movement?
You know a tech trend has really arrived when IBM gets behind it. At the very least through its marketing. Remember eBusiness? IBM helped...
Employee Engagement: Putting the Cart Before the Horse?
There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his...
In B2B, should Sales own the Customer Experience?
Christine Crandell writes on Forbes that CX ownership is a hot potato between marketing, finance and sales: It's never been clear who should take a...
Beyond multi-channel: The rise of the omni-channel consumer experience
Over the past couple of decades the Internet has changed the game for consumers, and companies. It's been fun following the rise of web...
Want to Empower Call Center Agents to Delight Customers? Improve Your A.I.M.
On a trip to Orlando two years ago, I arrived quite late to a Hilton hotel and visited the restaurant a few minutes before...
Forrester: Chief Customer Officers key to “orchestrate” customer experiences… and change
Forrest Research just published a new report by CX analyst Paul Hagen, with some very interesting insights into the emerging role of the Chief...
Yahoo CEO believes collaboration is about people, not technology
New Yahoo! boss Marissa Mayer is taking some heat for a new policy requiring employees to (gasp) come into a real office and work...
Deliver a Great Experience to All Prospects, Including Those that Don’t Buy
For sure, increasing sales productivity is a good thing. Marketing organizations are putting in place systems and tools to generate and score leads, so...
What’s next for the Marketing Automation industry?
I recently got an update from Erich Flynn, CEO of Treehouse Interactive. The company has been around for quite a few years, selling SaaS-based...
Lean, Not Mean — 3 Reasons Why Southwest Wins with a Culture that Empowers Employees
One of the biggest misconceptions about Customer Experience (CX) is that it's about delivering a "premium" experience. You know, like Apple, Ritz Carlton and...
Five Big Ideas to Profit from Analytics and Big Data
We cannot solve our problems with thesame thinking we used when we created them.—Albert Einstein I believe that making smart, fact-based decisions is absolutely essential...
Customer-Centric Thinking: A Collaboration of Man and Machine
Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.—Thomas...
Virtual Contact Centers: 3 reasons to like LiveOps solution for Alt-Tab Hell
This week LiveOps announced a new agent desktop as part of its cloud-based contact center solution. I've been paying a bit more attention to...